EPA Earmarks $7 Billion Toward Solar for All Grants
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has selected 60 recipients to receive $7 billion in awards through the Solar for All grant competition aimed at delivering residential solar projects to 900,000 households across the country.
Funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, which created EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the program hopes to develop solar programs enabling low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar. The program will also provide services to communities to overcome barriers such as siting, permitting and interconnection.
“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,” says Michael S. Regan, EPA administrator. “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.”
The agency selected 49 state-level awards totaling approximately $5.5 billion, six awards to serve Tribes totaling over $500 million and five multistate awards totaling approximately $1 billion.
EPA anticipates that the awards will be finalized in the summer. Selections are contingent on the resolution of all administrative disputes related to the competitions.