Editor’s note: The grant is actually bigger than the EPA announced. Read more here.
Hope Enterprise Corp. of Jackson, Mississippi, a private, nonprofit community development financial institution, has received a $62.25 million federal grant supporting rooftop solar installation for low-income households in Arkansas.
The money from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is a portion of about $5.5 billion in Solar for All grants awarded to projects in 49 states, along with six awards to serve tribes totaling more than $500 million and five multistate awards totaling approximately $1 billion.
The grants aim to advance affordable solar energy access for low-income and disadvantaged households. Awards will be finalized in the summer and selected applicants will launch new programs beginning in the fall and winter.
In Arkansas, funds will be used to develop a residential rooftop solar leasing market in areas served by the state’s investor-owned utilities, the EPA said in a news release. Part of the plan aims to lower energy costs for low-income families at multifamily buildings through strategic financial mechanisms and partnerships with local housing developers.
All strategies hinge upon “innovative financing, strategic partnerships, and HEC’s experience and expertise in serving disadvantaged communities in the state,” according to the release.
The grant is part of the Biden Administration’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created under the Inflation Reduction Act to lower energy costs, create jobs in communities that have been left behind, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis.
The EPA estimates that the Solar for All recipients will enable more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar energy. This program is projected to generate more than $350 million in annual savings on electric bills for participating households and will reduce 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions.
The program advances Biden’s goal of achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050.
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