The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced it’s sending $7 billion dollars out in a wave of funding for the Solar for All program, and a Georgia coalition is receiving over $156 million of it.
Solar for All is a function of President Biden’s clean energy agenda; the program itself was born out of the Inflation Reduction Act from 2022, which has seen billions poured into energy security and climate change already. Nearly $370 billion was allocated for these categories total over the course of 10 years.
“It is a historic, first-time ever investment from the federal government into solar energy access for residents with lower incomes,” said Chris Carnevale, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy’s (SACE) Climate Advocacy Director.
The Georgia coalition that received funding is led by the nonprofit Capital Good Fund, which leverages its status as a nonprofit to get a direct pay commercial tax credit for purchasing a rooftop solar system — something normal homeowners can’t do — and effectively makes solar more accessible to low income homeowners.
Before the announcement, Capital Good Fund had been testing a pilot program called Georgia BRIGHT since last year; to date, the program has signed leases with 36 households, along with a church and a nonprofit for a total of 38 ongoing projects. Now, with the additional federal funds, the success of that program will be able to expand.
“The Georgia BRIGHT Communities Coalition seeks to bring the benefits of solar energy to disadvantaged communities across the state of Georgia, ” reads the project description on the EPA website. “The coalition will accelerate clean energy adoption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, create good jobs, and alleviate energy burdens by expanding or establishing multiple types of solar programs — a single-family lease program, a free direct install program, and a novel “Community Benefit” solar program.”
The coalition includes partnerships with three Georgia cities, Atlanta, Savannah, and Decatur, for the funds and looks to advance their respective clean energy goals.
Carnevale has been working with SACE in the clean energy transition space for nearly 15 years. He said this isn’t the first time the federal government has supported homeowners going solar, but the special emphasis on ensuring low income households have access to it as well is what sets the Solar for All program apart.
“There has been support for homeowners to go solar since the Obama administration with the Recovery Act, which put into place federal tax credits for solar — typically about 30 percent of the cost for the system,” said Carnevale. “But the sticking point is that you have to have enough tax liability to be able to use that tax credit — so if you are among the households that don’t have that [tax liability] to the federal government, you weren’t able to fully utilize the value of that incentive. So hopefully, this is an alternative kind of investment in getting solar energy for folks who have lower incomes.”
He added that this makes the program both unique and unprecedented.
While solar is a great step forward, it should also be noted the Inflation Reduction Act created other avenues for homeowners to save money too — namely, energy efficiency through Home Energy Rebates. These rebates are being administered through the states and are not available yet, but are expected to be announced this year; Georgia’s rebates, specifically, will come through the Georgia EPD.
These rebates hope to allow homeowners to purchase more energy efficient appliances, HVAC systems and home improvements like insulation, with the goal being to help homeowners save money on energy bills by reducing energy consumption, simultaneously helping the nation advance its clean energy goals and use less fossil fuels.
Solar tends to get a lot of excitement — and rightfully so, being the premier distributed energy resource available to people — but it is important to not neglect the less “attractive” fixes that can be made through opportunities like Home Energy Rebates.
“Everyone should always make their home as efficient as possible to reduce their energy needs before investing in solar whenever possible, because it’s cheaper and easier to save a kilowatt by having a well insulated and tightly sealed house than it is to generate a kilowatt with solar,” Carnevale said.
And while $150 million is a large, historic investment, it can only move the needle so far, said Carnevale. Still, he and other clean energy advocates are excited to see how the funding will be used across the state.
EDIT: The author updated this article on 5/16/24 to reflect current program metrics.
That should make China very happy too, since they manufacture 75% of all solar panels made. By 2030, less than 6 years away, the United States is expected to have as much as one million total tons of solar panel waste. Heavy metals like lead and cadmium may be leachable at such concentrations that waste panels would fail the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), a required test. Thus, another joy for China is not having to deal solar panel waste disposal and toxicity.
So how many installations did Georgia Bright achieve? Where are the home owners quotes saying it’s successful? What was the cost and savings that demonstrate this is scalable? Having evaluated Solar i could never find enough value even with rebates. I suspect the only winner in this program is the government which funds administrators and vendors which get supplements. Please do some fact-based reporting and stop re-writing government press releases.
The post provided me with a plethora of information, enabling me to expand my knowledge and perspectives.