Peoples Solar Energy Fund

Membership in 2024, psef welcomed 9 new organizations into our membership, which demonstrates the power of building community with others. Recognizing that the movement for locally-led and community-owned solar will be ongoing, psef has expanded its capacity-building programs to meet the growing demand across the country.

Lending since deploying our first member loans two years ago, psef is pleased to report on the first repayments occurring in 2024. This proof of concept of a revolving loan fund governed by community groups, demonstrates the viability of community-led projects and the importance of non-extractive, relationship-based lending. In 2024, psef focused on building the infrastructure necessary to scale from a pilot fund to an integrated capital fund tailored to support projects as they mature. This led to the development of new loan products, which not only provide vital early stage capital, but will also enable members to leverage additional federal funding such as tax credits.

Regranting in 2024, our vital mini-grants program supported early-stage solar project conceptualization and foundational work such as forming ownership entities, developing business plans, and accessing immediate application support for tax credits and grants. Project finance in 2024, psef encountered both significant opportunities for increased capital access, as well as new challenges-each enriching our investment and lending practices. Psef began redesigning our capital offerings to better align with members' needs, delivering varying forms of grants, loans, guarantees and technical assistance. Our goal is to empower members with the resources to overcome barriers to solar development, enabling the creation of sustainable, community-driven energy solutions. Psef focused on building the infrastructure necessary to scale from a pilot fund to an integrated capital fund tailored to support projects as they mature. This led to the development of new loan products, which not only provide vital early stage capital, but will also enable members to leverage additional federal funding such as tax credits. Policy, partnerships & outreach as an existing project collaborator of the energy democracy project (edp), psef collaborated with a network of organizations working to democratize energy for everyday people across the country. Psef participated in edp's governance committee, decolonization working group and as part of the federal funding working group our executive director participated as a panelist on edp's succeeding with federal funding: experiences from the field webinar in october. This collaboration has been instrumental in situating the work of psef members within the broader energy democracy movement. Psef also collaborated to launch the regenerative economies network-a movement committed to funding the just transition to a regenerative economy. Guided by democratic governance approach, the network supported an application to the epa's greenhouse gas reduction fund: clean communities investment accelerator program. Ultimately the application was not selected as an awardee, but through the process we strengthened relationships and committed to mobilizing support for community-centered projects. Technical assistance building on psef's resource commons approach, psef facilitated a range of technical assistance to support members at various stages of project development in 2024. This included grant application support and financial modeling to legal and policy support. Psef's financial modeling working group has developed a template financial model designed to assist members in modeling and evaluating the financial viability of community solar projects.