The Biden administration announced a new initiative on Wednesday to connect low-income residents with solar power— a development that might allow communities that have long been excluded from the fast-growing renewable energy market to lower their utility costs.
After a clean energy incentive package worth hundreds of billions of dollars failed in the Senate, President Joe Biden is focusing on executive actions to achieve his ambitious climate goals. An agency official shared the move with POLITICO earlier.
By linking community solar projects with a federal program that subsidizes energy costs for low-income residents, the initiative aims to connect participants. Community solar projects sell subscriptions to households for renewable energy, lowering their monthly electricity bills.
The administration hopes that the program will stimulate the creation of 134 gigawatts of new solar power capacity nationwide, an agency official said. To understand how big that is, consider that the U.S. current total solar capacity is 97.2 gigawatts, according to the Energy Department. The Department of Energy estimated that participants in the five initial pilot project states and the District of Columbia would save more than $1 billion on their energy bills annually as a result of this initiative
An official with the agency, who requested anonymity to discuss the plan before final approval, said that certain segments of society were unable to profit from solar energy or benefit from its reduced expenses for several reasons. Rising energy costs, particularly escalating natural gas prices, which is the chief source of electricity in the United States, have been vexing consumers worldwide.
It’s probable that expanding community solar is necessary to achieve Biden’s climate goals, which include a net-zero electric grid by 2035. People who rent their homes and have fewer opportunities to access solar panels or those without the means to finance such investments will benefit from this.
A senior administration official said on a Wednesday call with reporters that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has adjusted recent guidance to enable 4.5 million families in federal public housing, including Section 8 voucher recipients, to participate in community solar.
