“Solar for all:” Biden tips $US7 billion into rooftop PV for low-income households

More than 4 gigawatts of rooftop PV panels will be rolled out across nearly 1 million low-income and disadvantaged households in the United States as part of a $US7 billion ($A10.8 billion) Solar for All program launched by the Biden administration on Monday.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says 60 recipients have been selected to distribute the $US7 billion through a competitive tender to deliver rooftop solar to over 900,000 households nationwide.

The 60 “selectees” will provide funds to states, territories, Tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits across the country to develop long-lasting programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from generating their own renewable power.

The program will provide grants and low-cost financing to overcome financial barriers to deployment as well as provide services to communities to overcome other barriers like siting, permitting, and interconnection.

Forty-nine of the new grants are state-level awards, six serve Native American tribes and five are multi-state awards. They can be used for investments including rooftop solar and community solar gardens.

The EPA says 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.

The Solar for All program – an initiative of independent US Senator Bernie Sanders – is funded by President Joe Biden’s Investing in America agenda through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which in turn created EPA’s $US27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

The IRA is lauded around the globe as a hugely successful policy measure to drive the uptake of clean energy technologies and to incentivise the growth of green industry in the US.

The EPA says the $US7 billion Solar for All investment is expected to generate around 200,000 jobs and $350 million in annual savings on electricity bills for “overburdened households” – or roughly $US400 a year, per home.

The rollout of more than 4GW worth of rooftop solar is also expected to reduce 30 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, cumulatively, over five years.

“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 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,” Regan said.

“Sunlight is powering millions of homes across the nation, and we’re working hard to ensure Americans everywhere can benefit from this affordable clean energy resource,” said US secretary of energy Jennifer Granholm.

“DOE is proud to work alongside our partners at EPA and across the Federal government to help communities access the limitless energy of the sun to light their homes and power their businesses.”

“The Solar for All program – legislation that I successfully introduced – will not only combat the existential threat of climate change by making solar energy available to working class families, it will also substantially lower the electric bills of Americans and create thousands of good-paying jobs,” said Sanders.

“This is a win for the environment, a win for consumers, and a win for the economy.”