The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under the Trump administration, is planning to cancel $7 billion in grants to help low-income families install solar panels on their homes. By the end of this week, the agency plans to send termination letters to 60 government agencies and organizations that were set to receive funding for rooftop solar projects.
The grants were issued under the Solar for All program, established by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). That law, touted by President Joe Biden as one of his trademark legislative accomplishments, funded hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy subsidies to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
According to the EPA’s website, Solar for All was supposed to “enable over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy.” Despite being allocated $7 billion, however, the program has spent only about $53 million in the past three years. As the vast majority of the money has not yet been disbursed, Solar for All was a prime target for the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back Biden-era climate programs.
Solar for All is contained within a larger $27 billion account created by the IRA, the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. In March, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin moved to terminate the other $20 billion in separate grants allocated to the fund. That money was intended to go toward “green bank” programs that would provide funding for clean energy projects through intermediary institutions.
One program whose funding Zeldin rescinded is the $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund. Under that program, the EPA says that it “awarded funds to three grant recipients to establish national clean financing institutions that deliver accessible, affordable financing for clean technology projects nationwide.”
The other program Zeldin has blocked is the $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, which “awarded funds to five grant recipients to establish hubs that provide funding and technical assistance to community lenders working in low-income and disadvantaged communities,” according to the EPA.
Explaining its solar project grant cancellations, an EPA spokeswoman said the agency “is working to ensure Congressional intent is fully implemented in accordance with the law.” She cited the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Trump earlier this year, which repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and rescinded all of its unobligated funding.
The move will likely face legal challenges despite the law, however. Letters sent by the EPA to program recipients cancelling their grants will seek to move money that was already awarded into unobligated status. Advocates of Solar for All may argue that, in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Congress intended to rescind only the funding that had not yet been committed to specific recipients, thus requiring the EPA to disburse the grants it has previously promised.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), who championed the Solar for All program in Congress, vowed on Tuesday to fight for its continuation. “I introduced the Solar for All program to slash electric bills for working families by up to 80 percent — putting money back in the pockets of ordinary Americans, not fossil fuel billionaires,” Sanders said. “Now, Donald Trump wants to illegally kill this program to protect the obscene profits of his friends in the oil and gas industry. That is outrageous.”