Application Notes:

Mandatory letters of interest (LOIs) will be accepted beginning at 11:59 a.m. ET on July 10, 2023, and will be reviewed in the order they are received on a rolling basis until 11:59 a.m. ET on September 29, 2023.

LOIs must be submitted online at www.ecivis.com/grants.gov. Submissions via hard copy, fax, or email will not be accepted.

LOIs must include:

• SF 424
• Applicant profile and point of contact information
• Financial information, including:
  • Copy of the applicant's balance sheet and income statements for the shorter of the last three years or the years the applicant has been in operation (if applicable)
  • Satisfactory financial information for evaluating the financial strength of the applicant (if applicable)
  • Balance sheet and income statements for the last three years of any entity or entities providing equity or security for the loan (if applicable)
• Technical description of the project (1,500 words max):
  • Type of loan being requested
  • Description of each energy system being requested
  • Verification of commercially available technology
  • Estimated dates to start construction and to achieve commercial operation
  • Estimated total capital cost of the project
  • Proposed financial structure of project
  • Description and status of any relevant power purchase agreement (PPA) (if applicable)
  • Description of any existing power sales contracts (if applicable)
  • Status of/estimated timelines to complete any permitting or environmental review processes (if applicable)
  • Ratepayer and community benefit
  • Prevailing wage
  • Loan forgiveness level

The following are required in order to submit an application:

• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
• SAM (System for Award Management) registration

Applicants may obtain a UEI number and verify or renew SAM registration status at www.ecivis.com/sam.

Optional webinars are scheduled for this program as follows:

Update on Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) Funding Webinar:
May 17, 2023
2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

Overview of Funding Available through IRA Webinars:
May 22, 2023
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

May 24, 2023
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

May 31, 2023
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

June 1, 2023
2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

Additional optional webinars area scheduled for this program as follows:

How to Submit Letters of Interest:
July 13, 2023
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: www.rd.usda.gov

How to Submit Letters of Interest:
July 24, 2023
1:00 p.m. ET
Registration: www.rd.usda.gov

Application Information:
August 29, 2023
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com/webinar

The program officer stated that the application information webinar scheduled for August 29, 2023, replaces the webinars formerly scheduled for August 1, 2023, and August 15, 2023.

Recordings of previously held webinars can be found online at www.rd.usda.gov.

Optional office hours are also scheduled for this program as follows:

June 22, 2023
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

July 6, 2023
2:00 p.m. ET
Registration: www.zoomgov.com

LOIs will be evaluated according to the following criteria: 

• Applicant eligibility
• Project eligibility
• Geographic diversity
• Financial status
• Allocation of funds among categories

Applicants submitting successful LOIs will be invited to submit a full application, which must be received approximately 60 days following invitation.

Refer to the NOFA, Overview, and LOIUpdate files for additional application information.

Match Notes:

For project loans, award recipients will be required to provide at least 25 percent of the project’s total capitalized cost in the form of cash or equity investments, which may not be derived from debt instruments. A project may also require the recipient to commit additional cash reserves.

For system loans, the award may cover up to 100 percent of the total project costs.

Award recipients will generally be allowed to combine the loan incentives offered through this program with other governmental benefits, provided such combinations are otherwise permitted by law or regulation.

Funding Notes:

An unspecified amount of funding is available to support loans and loan forgiveness awards through this program for the current fiscal year. The total appropriated amount of $1 billion will be available for the program through September 30, 2031; however, based on projected subsidy rates, the funding agency expects to have approximately $2.7 billion available to lend for the program. The minimum amount of any individual award is $1 million, and the maximum loan amount, inclusive of the forgivable portion, of any individual award is $100 million.

At least $300 million of appropriated funds will be committed to each award category, as follows:

• Category I: up to 20 percent total loan forgiveness
• Category II: up to 40 percent total loan forgiveness if at least 50 percent the population served by the proposed service area is located within the following areas:
  • Energy communities
  • Distressed or disadvantaged communities
• Category III: up to 60 percent total loan forgiveness if:
  • The proposed service area is located in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, or other U.S. territories or Compact of Free Association (COFA) states
  • The proposed service area consists of at least 60 percent of a tribal area or serves an area that constitutes a Substantially Underserved Trust Area (SUTA)
  • The project is owned by an Indian tribe, including their wholly owned arms and instrumentalities, or an Alaska Native corporation, including regional or village corporations

Funding will be offered as both project loans and system loans, as defined on pages 3-4 of the NOFA file. Awards provided as project loans may finance up to 75 percent of the total capitalized costs of a project. For system loans, the award may cover up to 100 percent of the total project costs.

The anticipated award date is expected to occur between September 2023 and December 2025.

The project period will last for five years from the date of environmental clearance, but no later than September 30, 2031.

Loans will bear interest equal to the municipal rate that can be found online at www.rd.usda.gov.

Refer to page 9 of the NOFA file for additional information regarding loan prepayment, repayment, financial ratios, and collateral.

Applicants are strongly advised that commencing construction prior to environmental or historic preservation clearance may make the proposed project ineligible for financing.

Funds may not be used for:

• Facilities that violate the terms of an applicant’s existing wholesale power contract
• Merchant power projects or projects where a non-utility entity is generating power for its own use
• Purchase of any existing Renewable Energy Resource (RER) systems or Energy Storage Systems (ESSs)

For FY 2023, a total of $139 million was distributed via five awards ranging from $1 million to $83.5 million through this program. Refer to the Award file for details.

March 25, 2024
Information regarding awards through this program has been released and attached as the Award file. A brief summary of the awards has been added to the Financial section, and a sample of award recipients has been added to the Eligibility section.

July 19, 2023
Information regarding an additional optional webinar scheduled for this program has been released and attached as the WebinarUpdate file. The program officer provided clarification that the newly scheduled webinar replaces the application information webinars formerly scheduled for August 1, 2023, and August 15, 2023. The Application section has been updated accordingly.

July 11, 2023
Detailed LOI guidelines, as well as a template for LOI submission, have been released and appended to the LOI folder as the LOIGuide and LOITemplate files, respectively.

July 5, 2023
Updated information regarding letter of interest submission has been released and attached as the LOIUpdate file. The Application and Contact sections have been updated accordingly.

June 28, 2023
Information regarding additional optional webinars and office hours scheduled for this program has been released and appended to the Webinars file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.

June 16, 2023
An amendment to the solicitation for this program has been released and attached as the Amendment file.

June 7, 2023
Recordings of webinars for this program have been released, and a link to the presentations is available in the Application section. Information on additional webinars and office hours for this program has also been released and attached as the Webinars file. The Application section has been updated accordingly.