The Center for Rural Affairs is one of 60 recipients of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Solar for All program.
The announcement came in late April, with an award of $62.4 million going to the Center to increase solar in Nebraska. For more on the Center’s award, see pages 1 and 3.
Across the nation, Solar for All will have a large effect. EPA estimates that the Solar for All recipients will enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar energy.
No matter where you live, at least one Solar for All grantee serves your area. There were 46 state-based grants, as well as additional awards with both Tribal and multi-state scopes. Unfortunately, two states in the Center’s home region did not receive state-based awards, Iowa and Kansas. Oklahoma and Alabama are the other two states that did not receive a state-based award.
Across the country, EPA’s $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, from over four gigawatts of solar energy capacity. 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.
All 60 recipients, including the Center, 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.
Solar for All will deploy residential solar for households nationwide by providing grants and low-cost financing as well as services to communities including siting, permitting, and interconnection.
The program will help meet the goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050. The 60 recipients, including the Center, 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 will expand existing low-income solar programs and launch new ones. 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, recipients will open new markets for distributed solar by funding new programs that provide grants and low-cost financing for low-income, residential solar.
Visit epa.gov/greenhouse-gas-reduction-fund/solar-all to learn about Solar for All in your state.
