(AGENPARL) – lun 22 aprile 2024 Issued: Apr 22, 2024 (9:45am EDT)
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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Center for Rural Affairs to Receive
$62.4M to Deliver Residential Solar, Lowering Energy Costs and Advancing
Environmental Justice Across Nebraska
EPA announces selectees under Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant competition
to deliver solar to low-income and disadvantaged households through the
President’s Investing in America Agenda
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 – 11201 Renner Blvd., Lenexa,
KS 66219
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Nine Tribal Nations
Biden-Harris Administration Announces Center for Rural Affairs to Receive
$62.4M to Deliver Residential Solar, Lowering Energy Costs and Advancing
Environmental Justice Across Nebraska
EPA announces selectees under Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant competition
to deliver solar to low-income and disadvantaged households through the
President’s Investing in America Agenda
Contact Information: Jonathan Klusmeyer, 913-343-2991,
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 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 four 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, Department of Energy, the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, Department of Treasury, Department of Agriculture, the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Department of Labor, Department of Defense,
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the 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
the summer of 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 registration details are included below. Information on other
GGRF webinars can be found on EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Engagement
Opportunities webpage.
Solar for All webinar: Monday, April 29, 2024, 4:00pm – 4:30pm ET. Register
for the April 29 meeting
# # #
Learn more about EPA Region 7
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