The U.S. government is moving to claw back $7 billion that it previously granted to various states, cities and nonprofit groups to drive more homeowners to install solar panels, mostly on their roofs.
Environmental Protection Agency secretary Lee Zeldin announced in a social media post last week that his agency plans to cancel the Solar for All program. He said this action is justified because Congress had ended authorization for the program in July when it passed the tax and spending legislation known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill".
The Biden administration had issued grants to fund solar projects to 60 entities, including state and local governments and nonprofit groups. It’s unclear how much money the federal government has actually paid out and whether it will try to recover those funds.
“The bottom line is this: EPA no longer has the statutory authority to administer the program or the appropriated funds to keep this boondoggle alive,” Zeldin said.
In an email to Homes.com on Monday, the EPA said little of the $7 billion has been spent, with most projects funded through Solar for All still in the planning stages.
“This program is poised to lower energy bills for nearly 30,000 Massachusetts households and create thousands of jobs," Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement last week. "We strongly urge the Trump Administration to abandon any plans to terminate the Solar for All grants.”
Officials in the energy departments of Virginia and North Carolina, which like Massachusetts received grants of more than $156 million through Solar for All, did not immediately respond to requests to comment.
The EPA said on a website last updated in February that it expected 90% of Solar for All funding to be used to install rooftop solar panels. Some grant recipients told the agency they would use the money for shared solar projects that benefit multiple homes.
Ben Delman, a spokesperson for Solar United Neighbors, a nonprofit group that works with homeowners around the U.S. to install solar projects, described the EPA’s action to withhold funds it had already granted to states as “illegal.”
“This money has already been obligated and therefore cannot be cut,” he told Homes.com. “Spending these funds will help hundreds of thousands of Americans to benefit from solar energy, lower their energy bills and create local jobs.”
Delman said his group is still reviewing Zeldin’s announcement and has not decided whether to take any action in response. While the EPA itself did not make a formal statement about plans to end Solar for All, Delman said some of the entities that were awarded grants have received notices from the agency that they will not receive the money.
The EPA criticized Solar for All in the email for allowing “grift” as funds pass through various entities before they reach homeowners or the actual solar installers. The program also allows use of products made in China rather than the U.S., according to the federal agency.
The $7 billion program is different from other recent U.S. government efforts to encourage solar, such as tax credits, because it would allow people with very low incomes to see cost savings from solar even if they can’t afford the up-front costs, Delman said.
