The Environmental Protection Agency plans to terminate US$7 billion in grants for rooftop solar projects. Photo / Maansi Srivastava, For The Washington Post
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to terminate US$7 billion in grants for rooftop solar projects. Photo / Maansi Srivastava, For The Washington Post
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to terminate US$7 billion (11.8b) in grants for rooftop solar projects that were supposed to serve lower- and middle-income consumers, according to two people familiar with the matter, in the Trump Administration’s latest move to undercut renewable energy.
The United States agency plans todraft letters to the 60 grant recipients under the Solar for All programme – which includes 49 states – informing them that their awards have been terminated, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the issue was still under internal discussion.
With the programme launching only in 2024, the vast majority of the money has yet to be spent, leaving it vulnerable to being clawed back by the Administration.
The news was first reported by the New York Times.
“Solar for All is laser-focused on helping nearly a million low-income families afford electricity at a time when their bills keep going up,” said Zealan Hoover, the EPA’s former director of implementation who oversaw the rollout of the grants under President Joe Biden.
“If the Trump Administration is serious about energy abundance and affordability, then they should be working hard to accelerate – not terminate – these grants.”
According to the clean energy company EnergySage, the average rooftop solar installation costs about US$29,000 before tax credits. The Solar for All programme was designed to help more than 900,000 people install solar. Households qualified if they stood to reduce their electricity bills by at least 20%.
The majority of the money was awarded to states in a competitive process, with state-level agencies then providing incentives such as grants, tax credits, and loans to households to install rooftop solar. The EPA also selected six tribes and five national grant recipients.
The Trump Administration has pushed the limits of the President’s power over federal spending, in a drive led by Russell Vought, the head of the Office of Management and Budget.
That includes seeking to rescind money that was approved by Congress and promised to specific recipients, which had been thought to be safe from the rollbacks in previous administrations.
The move to revoke Solar for All grants will probably draw legal challenges.
The programme was part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden Administration’s signature climate policy that aimed to provide billions of dollars in renewable energy incentives.
Congress voted last month to end most of those incentives through President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, also clawing back unobligated Solar for All grants.
The EPA termination letters will essentially seek to shift the money already awarded into unobligated status, with the agency potentially arguing that it is in line with what Congress approved, one of the people said.
“With the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, EPA is working to ensure congressional intent is fully implemented in accordance with the law,” the EPA said in a written statement, without commenting on the grant terminations.
President Donald Trump's move is expected to draw legal challenges, with critics arguing it lacks legal authority. Photo / Getty Images
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has already sought to rescind US$20b in separate grants under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which contains Solar for All. That money went primarily to non-profits to set up “green bank” programmes that finance renewable energy projects at favourable rates.
“EPA will be an exceptional steward of taxpayer dollars dedicated to our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, not a frivolous spender in the name of ‘climate equity,’” Zeldin said in a March statement on the US$20b in grants.
The Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group, pushed back on the legality of the EPA move.
“Congress has already appropriated this funding, and the EPA has no legal authority to terminate these grants that are delivering billions of dollars of investment to red and blue states alike,” said Stephanie Bosh, the association’s senior vice-president of communications.
“At a moment when energy demand is skyrocketing – and solar and storage is the quickest and cheapest energy source to deploy – this Administration is continuing to dig itself into a hole.”
Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent-Vermont) has championed the programme and sought assurances during Zeldin’s confirmation hearings that it would continue.
Zeldin had responded that he would “follow my obligations under the law,” without committing to continue the grants.
Sanders today vowed to fight to preserve the programme.
“I introduced the Solar for All programme to slash electric bills for working families by up to 80% - putting money back in the pockets of ordinary Americans, not fossil fuel billionaires,” he said in a statement.
“Now, Donald Trump wants to illegally kill this programme to protect the obscene profits of his friends in the oil and gas industry. That is outrageous.”
