New funds are open to small businesses and nonprofits seeking to install rooftop solar.
The Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority is making $18 million in loan capital available through the Green Energy Market Securitization program, also known as GEMS.
That money had previously been set aside for future administrative costs.
But HGIA Executive Director Gwen Yamamoto-Lau said the agency decided to redirect the funds in response to the federal government policy shifts towards solar projects.
Yamamoto-Lau said the GEMS program is the only source of funding that HGIA has to support nonprofits and small businesses. Other funding pathways exist for residential solar applicants.
HGIA closed its application portal last November to catch up on a backlog of 1,600 commercial and residential applications.
"Applications in the pipeline pretty much oversubscribed what we had" in terms of available funds, Yamamoto-Lau said.
Since then, the agency has moved forward as many completed applications as it could with available funds.
HGIA is reopening its portal thanks to the infusion of $18 million in new loan capital.
To help distribute the funds equitably among interested small businesses and nonprofits, developers or applicants may only submit one application between now and Jan. 9.
"We want to try and ensure as many diverse applicants as possible,"
Yamamoto-Lau said. "Then after [Jan. 9], if you have more than one project you're working on, feel free to submit."
