LENEXA, KAN. (APRIL 22, 2024) – Today, as the Biden-Harris administration celebrates Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the Center for Rural Affairs, based in Nebraska, has been selected to receive $62.4 million through the Solar for All grant competition to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar.
This award is part of the historic $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to lower energy costs for families, create good-quality jobs in communities that have been left behind, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.
Nebraska’s Solar for All will be the first program to ensure that low-income and disadvantaged households in the state have equitable access to solar power. The program will serve the entire state, resulting in immediate greenhouse gas reductions, immediate savings for low-income households, opportunities for ownership, and will lead to long-term market transformation of residential serving solar. Nebraska’s Solar for All will support rooftop and multifamily solar with a focus on low-income households. It will also include a tribal set-aside to be deployed in collaboration with Nebraska Tribes.
“Today we’re delivering on President Biden’s promise that no community is left behind by investing $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “The selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change.”
“Through the Center for Rural Affairs, EPA is providing meaningful change for our Nebraska communities by reducing or avoiding greenhouse gas emissions, lowering energy bills, and increasing access to clean energy for disadvantaged communities,” said EPA Region 7 Administrator Meghan A. McCollister. “This announcement is a win-win for the Heartland, and I cannot think of a better time to celebrate than on Earth Day.”
“The Center for Rural Affairs is excited to be selected as a recipient of the Solar for All program,” said Brian Depew, Center for Rural Affairs executive director. “This landmark program will ensure that all residents can participate in the clean energy economy. We look forward to implementing our program statewide in Nebraska and transforming residential-serving solar.”
The Center for Rural Affairs is among 49 state-level awards announced by EPA today totaling approximately $5.5 billion, along with six awards to serve tribes totaling over $500 million and five multistate awards totaling approximately $1 billion.
A complete list of the selected applicants can be found on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Solar for All website.
The Solar for All program also advances President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
All of the funds awarded through the Solar for All program will be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The program will also help meet the President’s goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.
EPA estimates that the 60 Solar for All recipients will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar energy. This $7 billion investment will generate over $350 million in annual savings on electric bills for overburdened households. The program will reduce 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions cumulatively, from over 4 gigawatts of solar energy capacity unlocked for low-income communities over five years. Solar and distributed energy resources help improve electric grid reliability and climate resilience, which is especially important in disadvantaged communities that have long been underserved.
Solar for All will deliver on the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to creating high-quality jobs with the free and fair choice to join a union for workers across the United States. This $7 billion investment in clean energy will generate an estimated 200,000 jobs across the country. All selected applicants intend to invest in local, clean energy workforce development programs to expand equitable pathways into family-sustaining jobs for the communities they are designed to serve.
At least 35% of selected applicants have already engaged local or national unions, demonstrating how these programs will contribute to the foundation of a clean energy economy built on strong labor standards and inclusive economic opportunity for all American communities.
The 60 selected applicants have committed to delivering on the three objectives of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: reducing climate and air pollution; delivering benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities; and mobilizing financing to spur additional deployment of affordable solar energy. Solar for All selected applicants are expanding existing, low-income solar programs and launching new programs. In at least 25 states and territories nationwide, Solar for All is launching new programs where there has never been a substantial low-income solar program before. In these geographies, Solar for All selected applicants will open new markets for distributed solar by funding new programs that provide grants and low-cost financing for low-income, residential solar.
Review and Selection Process Information
The 60 applicants selected for funding were chosen through a competition review process. This multi-stage process included review from hundreds of experts in climate, power markets, environmental justice, labor, and consumer protection from EPA, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Treasury, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Defense, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and U.S. Department of Energy’s National Labs – all screened through ethics and conflict-of-interest checks and trained on the program requirements and evaluation criteria. Applications were scored and selected through dozens of review panels and an interagency senior review team.
EPA anticipates that awards to the selected applicants will be finalized in summer 2024, and selected applicants will begin funding projects through existing programs and begin expansive community outreach programs to launch new programs in the fall and winter of this year. Selections are contingent on the resolution of all administrative disputes related to the competitions.
Informational Webinars
EPA will host informational webinars as part of the program’s commitment to public transparency. EPA has scheduled a public webinar for the Solar for All program, and details are included below. Information on other Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund webinars can be found on EPA’s website.
Solar for All webinar: Monday, April 29, 2024, from 4 to 4:30 p.m. EDT. Register for the webinar here.
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