The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO), announced the 2023 Sunny Awards.
Donor Name: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
State: All States
County: All Counties
U.S. Territories: American Samoa, Guam, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands
Type of Grant: Award
Deadline: 07/14/2023
Size of the Grant: $10,000
Details:
The American-Made Sunny Awards for Equitable Community Solar (The Sunny Awards) is a $200,000 prize competition that will recognize community solar portfolios and programs that employ or develop best practices to increase equitable access to the meaningful benefits of community solar for subscribers and their communities.
Community solar is any solar project or purchasing program in which the benefits of a solar project flow to multiple customers such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups, within a certain geographic area. Community solar projects and programs can vary significantly in their structure, implementation, and benefits they provide. The best practices of the projects and programs recognized by the Sunny Awards will provide a blueprint for community solar developers, state energy offices, utilities, and others to help achieve the National Community Solar Partnership (NCSP) target to power the equivalent of five million households with community solar by 2025, generating $1 billion in electricity bill savings.
Funding Information
The Sunny Awards offer up to thirty Finalist Awards at $2,500, up to fifteen Meaningful Benefits/Engagement Awards at $5,000, and up to five Grand Prize awards at $10,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Community solar definition: Community solar project portfolios, and projects supported by state and utility programs must fit within the DOE definition of community solar: “a solar project or purchasing program, within a geographic area, in which the benefits of a solar project flow to multiple customers such as individuals, businesses, nonprofits, and other groups.”
- Geographic location: Project portfolios, state and utility programs must be based in the United States or its territories.
- Date energized: All projects within a project portfolio must have been placed in service after January 1, 2020. Community solar state and utility programs must have been launched or have had significant updates after January 1, 2020. The nominated project portfolio must only contain projects that have been energized for at least six months prior to submission. The nominated state or utility program must support at least one project that has been energized for at least six months prior to submission.
- Customer type: The nominated project portfolio or projects supported by a state, tribal, district, municipal or utility program must serve at least 50% residential customers (i.e., does not provide a majority of its capacity to commercial entities, nonprofits, or other anchor tenants).
- Project size: The minimum size for an individual project is the average single residential household size, or 8.5 kW. There is no restriction on the maximum size of an individual solar project to be eligible to compete in this prize.
- Legislation requirements: State-level enabling legislation is not required for project eligibility; however, the benefits realized by the project portfolio or by the projects supported by a state or utility program may not be dependent on pending legislation or regulation.
- Past participation: Projects, state, or utility programs that have received a Grand Prize in prior Sunny Awards rounds are not eligible for additional prizes of any kind. Projects, state, or utility programs that have received a Meaningful Benefits Special Recognition Award in prior Sunny Award rounds are only eligible for Finalist and Grand Prize awards (they will not be eligible for a second Meaningful Benefit Award or an Engagement Award). Projects, state, or utility programs that have received a finalist award but have not received a Grand Prize or Meaningful Benefit Special Recognition Award in prior Sunny Awards rounds are eligible for all prizes included in this round of the Sunny Awards.
- Meaningful benefits: To be eligible for a Semifinalist Recognition or a Finalist Award, project/portfolios must provide evidence demonstrating that they meet the criteria for at least two of the Meaningful Benefits in this Table. State or utility programs must provide evidence demonstrating that at least one project supported by their program meets the criteria for at least two of the Meaningful Benefits. To be eligible for a Grand Prize, portfolios or state and utility programs must provide evidence demonstrating they meet the criteria in at least two of the Meaningful Benefits.
For more information, visit Sunny Awards.
