Latest news with #SolarForAll
E&E News
11 hours ago
- Business
- E&E News
EPA asserts Trump's megalaw required killing $7B solar grant program
Hours after EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin declared on social media that EPA would terminate grants from a major solar energy program, awardees received formal notices that attributed the move to a provision in President Donald Trump's tax-and-spending megalaw. EPA sent letters to the 60 state and nonprofit entities administering the $7 billion Solar for All program Thursday evening, soon after awardees discovered they could no longer access the government's grant-making portal to request reimbursements for program expenditures. The letters came after Zeldin posted on X that EPA would terminate the program, which he branded a 'boondoggle.' Advertisement EPA's termination letters said that Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act rescinded funding for both 'grant appropriations and the EPA's administrative cost appropriation.'
CBS News
15 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
California regulators, solar energy advocates denounce EPA decision to end Solar for All program
California regulators and solar industry stakeholders are denouncing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's decision to eliminate the Solar for All grant program, designed to bring solar energy to low-income households. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the termination of the $7 billion program on Thursday, initiated in 2023 under the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, calling it a "boondoggle" and a "grift" that he claimed was being diluted by middlemen taking cuts from the awarded grants. In a joint statement on Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission, and Labor and Workforce Development Agency called the EPA's ending of the program "unlawful," saying it would increase the cost of community solar and storage projects in the state. ALSO READ: California Supreme Court rules rooftop solar credit rollback needs revisiting, rejecting deference to CPUC California's share of the grants includes $250 million for community solar projects administered through the CPUC, CEC and LWDA. The grants were part of the Biden EPA's $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which the Trump administration has frozen, a move that prompted multiple lawsuits and injunctions. The joint statement from California regulators said an EPA-approved work plan was created with stakeholder input, and the Solar for All funding was made available on March 24. "Congress appropriated these funds with a clear mandate," the statement said. "Revoking them now undermines our legal system and destabilizes ongoing projects." Sach Constantine, Executive Director at San Francisco-based advocacy group Vote Solar, said in a prepared statement that the EPA's ending of Solar for All grants is part of an overall attack on clean energy and access to energy solutions. "The EPA's move to cancel Solar for All grants and claw back contractually obligated funding is deeply alarming," Constantine said. "Now, communities that were promised a path to affordable energy solutions are being abandoned – left in the lurch just as they were preparing to break ground. With projects stalled, thousands of clean energy jobs will be at risk – jobs that would have gone to local workers in the very communities this program was meant to uplift." The CPUC was also blamed for not distributing the state's $250 million award, which was announced in April 2024. According to Atlas Public Policy, California has only spent $100,641 of the funds, compared to Illinois, which has spent $11 million of its $156 million grant. "The PUC's slow-walking of this process has likely squandered $250 million in federal support," Matthew Freedman, attorney with The Utility Reform Network, told Politico. "As of today, we have no program, no development, federal tax credits that are about to sunset, and now an announcement that Solar for All funding is going to be pulled by the Trump administration." The CPUC said Thursday that "California is already well underway in implementing its Solar for All grant" and has listed its progress on its website.
Axios
15 hours ago
- Business
- Axios
Trump pulls $156 million for solar panels in Florida
The Trump administration revoked $156 million in grant money that would have helped low-income residents in Florida afford solar panels, the Tampa Bay Times reports. Why it matters: Hundreds of people had already applied for these funds, and many were eligible for grants or subsidies to install solar panels, which would have helped them offset rising electricity costs. Catch up quick: The Trump administration pulled the funds amid efforts to roll back the Solar For All program, according to the Times. Three nonprofits — Solar and Energy Loan Fund, Solar United Neighbors, and The Nature Conservancy in Florida — had put in for the grant. The termination letter sent to these nonprofits references the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which also advanced the sunset of the 30% tax credit for residential solar installations to year's end. The big picture: Florida's average retail residential price for 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity increased from 13.62 cents to 14.98 cents between May 2024 and May 2025. That's an increase of about 10%, according to the latest available data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. What they're saying: " Now more than ever, Floridians need clean, affordable solar power and the added resiliency it provides during storms," Bill Johnson, who runs solar company Brilliant Harvest in Sarasota, told the Times.
CBS News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
EPA terminates $7 billion Solar for All program
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday it is terminating its $7 billion Solar for All program that was designed to bring renewable and affordable energy to low-income communities. Sources confirmed to CBS News earlier this week that the agency planned to scrap the program. Solar for All provided funding to 60 grant recipients that planned to create or expand existing low-income solar programs, with the goal of enabling 900,000 households across the country in disadvantaged communities to utilize solar energy to reduce their home energy bills. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement posted on X: "The One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which included a $7 billion pot called 'Solar for All.' ... The bottom line is this: EPA no longer has the statutory authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive." CBS News reported Tuesday that the Office of Management and Budget reached out to the EPA about terminating the program. One source told CBS News that several senators, both Republicans and Democrats, reached out to the EPA and asked it to reconsider, as many of these recipients are state energy and environmental offices in both red and blue states. The New York Times was the first to report on the plans. Groundswell, a nonprofit Solar for All grant recipient that works in eight Southern states, has more than $156 million in grant funding on the line. To date, the group has broken ground on 24 megawatts of solar projects worth over $20 million. "This program covers every single state and U.S. territories, more than 60% of the awards went to state energy offices," Groundswell CEO Michelle Moore told CBS News. Moore was quick to point out that awards were granted to stakeholders in both red and blue states, adding: "There's a lot at stake here." As electricity bills rise, which experts believe may only increase as more energy-hungry data centers come online, Moore saw Solar for All as a tool to lower energy costs in the South. "Solar for All is an investment in energy infrastructure that's going to serve that residential customer that's going to keep energy rates in America more affordable and more fair," she said. Solar for All awarded grants in August 2024 to 49 state-level agencies, six tribes and five multi-state award recipients, according to the EPA. They include state agencies like the Alaska Energy Authority, which was granted a $62 million award to offer access to renewable energy in both urban and rural areas. Harris County, Texas, which encompasses Houston, was awarded $249 million to provide distributed solar and battery storage to disadvantaged communities in the state, and plan on using the money to support workforce training for low-income residents as well as minority and women-owned businesses. "Solar for All was a focused program where grants were used to help low- and middle-income households reduce their household electricity costs by up to 20% through solar and storage," said Zealan Hoover, who was a senior adviser to former EPA administrator Michael Regan in the Biden administration. Hoover spent three years at the EPA helping to implement more than $100 billion in programs authorized under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. "If the EPA is successful in terminating these grants, I anticipate most of the grantees will sue for unlawful termination," Hoover told CBS News. "If the EPA is ultimately successful, then most recipients will have lost years of work across the country to help low-income households, and all the work will be for naught." Cody Two Bears, CEO of Indigenized Energy, helps tribes and members of the Menominee Nation pursue what it calls "energy sovereignty." Indigenized Energy belongs to a coalition of tribes that were awarded more than $135 million to build solar projects in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Indigenized Energy completed one of the first Solar for All projects in the country earlier this year, despite setbacks when funding had been frozen by the federal government earlier this year. He said cutting the Solar for All program is a reminder of the distrust between Native American tribes and the federal government. "Tribes have always endured broken promises for many generations at the federal level, and this is just another broken promise that tribal nations have to face from our federal government," Cody Two Bears told CBS News. Indigenous families face, on average, a 28% higher energy burden according to the Department of Energy. "It's devastating news to Indian country and to Native tribes," he said. "I think the hardest part of this is, we were a year into this process of this five-year grant, and it brought a lot of hope to our tribes. It brought a lot of opportunity and jobs that will be lost if they were to remove this program."
Miami Herald
18 hours ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Trump administration revokes $156M grant to help Floridians afford solar panels
The federal government has revoked a $156 million grant received by three Florida nonprofits to help lower-income residents afford solar panels. More than 800 Floridians had already applied for these funds, at least a quarter of which had been pre-qualified, said Duanne Andrade, executive director of the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, one of the nonprofits. Eligible applicants would have been able to get grants, subsidies or low-cost financing to help pay for solar panels. The organizations had delayed approving applications until they received clarity on the future of the program. This cancellation is removing one more tool for households that can least afford rising electricity costs, Andrade said, not to mention how added jobs would've benefitted the state economy. 'These funds are being taken away from Floridians,' she said. 'If you're not a low-income household, maybe you're invested in solar companies. Or maybe you have people that need to work and you're going to put people to work in Florida. This [was] an investment in Florida.' In addition to the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, the two other Florida nonprofits that received the grant were Solar United Neighbors, a solar organizing group, and The Nature Conservancy in Florida, an environmental group. They jointly applied for the federal money after learning Florida was one of the few state governments that didn't apply. The cancellation is part of a national rollback of the Solar For All program, which included similar grants throughout the country. The termination letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which the Florida groups received Thursday night and shared with the Tampa Bay Times, cites the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 'Congress has made its intent clear ... that the SFA [Solar for All] program is no longer to operate,' it reads. That law also moved up the expiration date of the 30% tax credit for homeowners who install rooftop solar panels to the end of this year. That's created a rush of people trying to buy panels before the program ends, local business owners have said. This is a breaking story. Check back for updates.
