EPA announces $62.4 million grant for residential solar power in Nebraska

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on April 22 that it had awarded the Nebraska-based nonprofit Center for Rural Affairs a grant to provide residential solar power to low-income and disadvantaged households in the state.

The EPA said $62.4 million grant under its Solar for All program would be used for Nebraska Solar for All, the first program focused on providing clean solar energy for these segments of the state’s population. The grants will cover the installation of solar panels on building rooftops and solar power arrays that will serve multiple families.

Solar energy can be used in place of traditional fossil fuel to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gasses, the main contributor to global climate change.

The Center for Rural Affairs is based in Lyons and describes itself as “unapologetically rural” in its work providing loans for small businesses, farmers, and other communities in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

In a statement, the center said: “The Solar for All grant will enable us to reach more than 9,000 households in Nebraska and deploy over 60 megawatts of new residential-serving solar energy. This initiative will lower energy costs and reduce pollution in underserved communities across the state.”

The nonprofit will engage in a year-long planning period and announced that it has begun the process of hiring 11 new employees to manage the project.

The EPA’s Solar for All grant competition is financed by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law in August 2022.

The EPA announced a total of 49 state-based awards on April 22, along with six awards for Native American tribes. Solar for All is part of Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which is aimed at ensuring that 40% of federal investments in climate, affordable housing, and clean energy goes to historically disadvantaged communities.

The Inflation Reduction Act secured passage in Congress on a party-line vote, with only Democratic members backing the bill. All members of Nebraska’s congressional delegation opposed the bill: Republican Sens. Deb Fischer and Ben Sasse (who has since left the Senate) and Republican Reps. Don Bacon, Jeff Fortenberry (who no longer serves in the House), and Adrian Smith.

“This reckless and partisan bill is bad for Nebraska families, bad for Nebraska businesses, and bad for America’s energy sector,” Bacon said in an August 2022 statement.According to the Department of Energy, the law makes the largest investment in climate and energy in U.S. history and is a key element for achieving Biden’s goal of net-zero carbon emissions for the country by 2050.