Frequently Asked Questions on the Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund 2023 Funding Opportunity Announcement

The Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF) is $1 billion, but this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) (DE-FOA-0003096) has a maximum award of $450 million between all Topic Areas. What is the plan for the rest of the funding?

DOE is pursuing a multi-phased approach with funding opportunities through FOAs and a prize. This first FOA focuses on single-family residential rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) and battery storage solutions. To ensure that applicants selected via the DE-FOA-0003096 can quickly deploy installations where they are most needed, the Solar Ambassador Prize is a complementary competitive funding opportunity for organizations in Puerto Rico to assist DOE in identifying, engaging, and assisting with intake processing of qualifying households for solar PV and battery storage inspections. Through the prize, DOE will award a total of $3.5 million to up to 20 community organizations to assist in this work. In addition, a second FOA is expected to be released next year and is likely to focus on community-level resilience investments, which may include solutions for multifamily buildings.

What exactly is a Topic Area?

Topic Areas are distinct opportunities to apply for funding within this FOA. That is, this FOA has three interrelated Topic Areas but each one has distinct objectives, eligibility, and application criteria.

What are the three Topic Areas? Who was selected for funding through these Topic Areas?

• Topic Area 1: Third-Party Residential Rooftop Solar PV and Battery Storage Deployment 
  • Awardees:

• Topic Area 2: Community-Sponsored Residential Rooftop Solar PV and Battery Storage Deployment 
  • Awardees: Barrio Eléctrico, Comunidad Solar Toro Negro, Inc., Environmental Defense Fund, Let's Share the Sun Foundation, and Solar United Neighbors, Inc. 
• Topic Area 3: Beneficiary Education, Training, and Consumer Protection 
  • Awardees: Hispanic Federation Inc. and the Institute for Building Technology and Safety 

What is the Solar Access Program? 

• The Solar Access Program, funded through the U.S. Department of Energy’s Puerto Rico Energy Resilience Fund (PR-ERF), aims to deploy solar and battery storage systems to up to 40,000 vulnerable households in Puerto Rico at no up-front cost to homeowners. This program has been informed by the interests and needs of local Puerto Rican communities and will benefit households that are disproportionately affected by frequent and prolonged power outages. 

How does the Solar Ambassador Prize interact with the FOA? 

• The Solar Ambassador Prize is a competitive funding opportunity for local organizations in Puerto Rico to partner with DOE in performing outreach activities to identify households that qualify for projects under Topic Area 1 and to help them enroll as beneficiaries under Topic Area 1 of the FOA. That is, DOE will make use of the approved and verified list of beneficiaries and the awardees of Topic Area 1 developed by Solar Ambassadors under the Prize for the purpose of installing rooftop solar PV and battery storage systems on the beneficiaries’ homes.  

Once program implementation begins, who is eligible to receive solar panels and batteries?  

• Eligible beneficiaries include (a) very low-income single-family households where an individual with an energy dependent disability resides (no geographic restriction); or (b) very low-income single-family households located in a Last Mile Community (Interactive Puerto Rico Last Mile Communities Map).  

How does DOE define “individual with an energy dependent disability”? 

• An individual that relies on electricity-dependent or battery-dependent medical equipment or assistive technology to live independently or to assist in performing activities for daily living. This includes individuals who are unable to control body temperature and therefore require heating or cooling systems to prevent injury or death, as well as those that rely on medication that is required to be refrigerated. 
• This is a non-exhaustive list of examples of medical devices considered to rely on electricity-dependent or rechargeable battery-dependent medical equipment or assistive technology: ventilator, bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) machine, enteral feeding machine, intravenous (IV) infusion pump, suction pump, at-home dialysis machine, electric wheelchair, electric scooter, electric bed equipment in the past 13 months; oxygen concentrator equipment in the past 36 months; implanted cardiac devices that include left ventricular assistive device (LVAD),  right ventricular assistive device (RVAD), bi-ventricular assistive device (BIVAD), total artificial heart (TAH) in the past 5 years.  

What is a Last Mile Community? 

• A census block that (a) has a high percentage of very low-income households, and (b) experiences frequent and prolonged power outages.  Solar Ambassador organizations will perform outreach activities in Last Mile Communities to identify qualifying households. 
• DOE has developed an interactive map where homeowners can search to see if their households fall in a Last Mile Community (Interactive Puerto Rico Last Mile Communities Map).   

What does DOE consider “very low-income, single-family household”? 

• A household in which at least one individual is enrolled in or receives benefits from one or more of the following government assistance programs: Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP), or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).