U.S. Climate Alliance Members Collectively Secure Nearly $3 Billion to Deploy Residential Solar Energy in Low-Income Communities Across America

Home / U.S. Climate Alliance Members Collectively Secure Nearly $3 Billion to Deploy Residential Solar Energy in Low-Income Communities Across America

U.S. Climate Alliance Members Collectively Secure Nearly $3 Billion to Deploy Residential Solar Energy in Low-Income Communities Across America

April 22, 2024

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of governors representing approximately 60 percent of the U.S. economy and 55 percent of the U.S. population, today announced that 23 of its members have been awarded funding — approximately $2.9 billion collectively — under the Biden administration’s Solar for All program. This historic investment will enable low-income households across America to access residential solar power — and save money and energy, boost resilience, improve health, and create quality jobs.

“Every community deserves clean, affordable, reliable energy, and Solar for All is a game changer for America and a giant leap toward a more just and equitable transition,” said Alliance co-chair Washington Gov. Jay Inslee. “This record investment from the Biden administration will save hardworking families billions on their energy bills, improve health, and support local jobs and businesses — and the Alliance’s governors are ready to deliver.”

“Access to technology like solar and energy storage is critical to ensure the benefits of low cost, clean energy are shared by people across Maine and the nation,” said Alliance co-chair Maine Gov. Janet Mills. “The Solar for All program provides an enormous opportunity to generate clean, home-grown energy while delivering significant cost savings for millions of Americans and accelerating clean energy job growth.”

More information on the awards received by the Alliance’s states and territories is below:

Arizona – Executive Office of the State of Arizona ($156,120,000): SFA Arizonans will create multiple innovative market mechanisms that accelerate distributed solar deployment in low-income and disadvantaged communities on rooftops, in neighborhood solar projects, and in solar-plus-storage systems.
California – California Infrastructure Economic Development Bank ($249,800,000): California’s program (CA-S4A) represents a coalition of state entities with deep programmatic expertise; together, the coalition will reach the homes and businesses statewide that are most in need of affordable, reliable clean energy.
Colorado – Colorado Energy Office ($156,120,000): The Colorado SFA program will provide single-family rooftop solar and multifamily rooftop solar across the entire state, helping deliver lower utility bills improved public health through reduced pollution from power generation, creating wealth and jobs for local communities.
Connecticut – Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection ($62,450,000): Project SunBridge will reach low-income and disadvantaged community households across the state, with a priority focus on affordable housing units, to allow for greater access to residential solar, increased resilience and grid benefits, and investments in quality jobs and businesses.
Guam – Guam Department of Administration ($62,450,000): The SFA-GU program will provide access to renewable energy solutions to low and moderate-income households in Guam, especially focusing on homeowners who have been barred from investing in solar energy due to financial constraints.
Hawaiʻi – Hawaiʻi Green Infrastructure Authority ($62,450,000): SFA-HI will dedicate program funds to finance residential rooftop solar, storage systems and residential-serving, community-owned solar systems for low-income households and in disadvantaged communities statewide.
Illinois – Illinois Finance Authority ($156,120,000): Illinois will expand existing state programs with financial assistance to support health and safety, enable upgrades, incorporate energy storage, expand residential solar, support energy sovereignty and community-driven projects, and provide critical capital to disadvantaged solar vendors to grow their businesses and capabilities.
Massachusetts – Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources ($156,120,000): Massachusetts’ SFA Program will be available to all low-income and disadvantaged communities across Massachusetts with the goal of maximizing participation and impact in historically underserved communities.
Maryland – Maryland Clean Energy Center ($62,450,000): The Maryland SFA Program assembles a coalition of government, industry, utility, academic and non-profit organizations to focus on mobilizing capital, facilitating workforce preparedness, and building capacity with and for low-income, underserved, and disadvantaged communities to access the benefits of solar energy.
Maine – Maine Governor’s Energy Office ($62,120,000): Maine’s program (MESA) will use funding for four financial assistance program channels that comprehensively address the range of barriers faced by low-income and disadvantaged households: single-family and multifamily on-site solar programs as well as targeted support for cooperatively-owned community solar.
Michigan – State of Michigan, Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy ($156,120,000): The MI Healthy SFA program is a comprehensive statewide initiative designed to deploy residential rooftop and other solar projects to serve low-income and disadvantaged community households across the state.
Minnesota – Minnesota Department of Commerce ($62,450,000): The Minnesota Commerce Department Division of Energy Resources will support residential-serving solar for low-income and disadvantaged households in communities across Minnesota, including the federally recognized Tribal communities that share the same geography.
North Carolina – North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality ($156,120,000): The North Carolina SFA Coalition (NC Coalition) will launch a statewide EnergizeNC program to transform solar growth in the state, enabling the rapid deployment of distributed solar and associated storage with meaningful benefits to low-income and disadvantaged communities across the state, including state- and federally recognized Tribal lands.
New Jersey – New Jersey Board of Public Utilities ($156,120,000): New Jersey, through NJBPU, has designed a SFA program (NJ SFA) that tackles the major barriers that have prevented the adoption of solar energy by low-income and disadvantaged households across four key pillars: residential solar, multi-family housing solar and storage, residential-serving community solar, and technical assistance and workforce development.
New Mexico – New Mexico Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources Department ($156,120,000): To help overcome existing barriers to widespread adoption of distributed solar generation, the program, designed to meet low-income and disadvantaged communities – both owners and renters – will bring the most isolated and off-grid residents (e.g., unelectrified homes) online and support grid resilience with on-site solar.
New York – New York State Energy Research and Development Authority ($249,800,000): NYSERDA will leverage EPA’s SFA support to enhance the state’s existing portfolio of highly successful and effective solar deployments, technical assistance, and workforce development programs for the benefit of millions of residents that live in disadvantaged communities and low-income households.
Oregon – Oregon Department of Energy ($86,600,000): The Oregon SFA Coalition will leverage existing solar technology incentives and support platforms through a coordinated program delivery system, designed specifically to meet the needs of low-income households and residents of disadvantaged communities in Oregon.
Pennsylvania – Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority ($156,120,000): The Pennsylvania SFA Program will deploy and enable deployment of residential-serving solar, storage, and enabling upgrades in low-income and disadvantaged communities across Pennsylvania.
Puerto Rico – Puerto Rico Office of Management and Budget ($156,120,000): Puerto Rico will lead a coalition of four other partner organizations to deploy solar and storage systems that will provide financial and resiliency benefits to thousands of low-income and disadvantaged households.
Rhode Island – Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources ($49,330,000): Rhode Island will launch and expand a comprehensive suite of seven financial assistance programs and 12 project deployment technical assistance initiatives, which are designed to equitably address barriers to solar adoption in Rhode Island’s low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Vermont – Vermont Department of Public Service ($62,450,000): SFA Vermont will provide the incentives, organizational structures, and program policies needed to install thousands of solar systems on the roofs of low-income and disadvantaged homeowners, on the roofs and sites of managed permanently affordable apartment buildings, and as residential-serving community arrays that will provide meaningful benefits to the homeowners, affordable housing residents, and renters.
Washington – Washington State Department of Commerce ($156,120,000): Washington will expand solar access to income-qualified residents and frontline communities through several programs, including a program focused on single-family homeowners, a program that helps multifamily affordable housing properties access other state and federal solar incentives, and a program focused on Tribal solar deployment.
Wisconsin – Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation ($62,450,000): Through a combination of grants to homeowners, incentives, tax credits, loan offerings, and partnerships, Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) will remove barriers to solar energy throughout Wisconsin.

Additional detail on awardees can be found on EPA’s website. The Solar for All competition is funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created by the Biden administration’s clean energy plan.

About the Alliance

Launched on June 1, 2017 by the governors of Washington, New York, and California to help fill the void left by the previous administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the Alliance has grown to include 24 governors from across the U.S. representing approximately 60% of the U.S. economy and 55% of the U.S. population. Governors in the Alliance have pledged to collectively reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 26-28% by 2025, 50-52% by 2030, and 61-66% by 2035, all below 2005 levels, and collectively achieve overall net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as practicable, and no later than 2050.

The Alliance’s states and territories continue to demonstrate that climate action goes hand-in-hand with economic growth, job creation, and better public health. The Alliance reduced its collective net greenhouse gas emissions by 19% between 2005 and 2022, while increasing collective GDP by 30%, and is on track to meet its near-term climate goal by reducing collective GHG emissions 26% below 2005 levels by 2025. The coalition’s states and territories are employing more workers in the clean energy sector, achieving lower levels of dangerous air pollutants, and preparing more effectively for climate impacts and executing more pre-disaster planning than the rest of the country.

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