CA Solar Project Receives $249.8M Federal Greenhouse Reduction Grant

CALIFORNIA — A solar project in California will receive $249.8 million in grant funding under a $7 billion federal program to bring solar energy to more than 900,000 people nationwide, saving them $350 million annually in utility costs, the Biden administration announced on Earth Day Monday.

Solar power could save about $400 per household in electricity costs, and prevent 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over 25 years, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a statement.

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"California's program represents a coalition of state entities with deep programmatic expertise in regulatory design, capacity building, project finance, infrastructure development, and grid management," according to the grant announcement. "Together, the coalition will leverage California’s transformation of the market for solar energy over the last two decades to reach the homes and businesses statewide that are most in need of affordable, reliable clean energy. With this infusion of highly flexible, equity-focused new resources, California will build new programmatic capacity, expand current efforts, address funding gaps, and add momentum to new strategies under development to address future market conditions as California continues to advance the decarbonization agenda. California has transformed the solar market, at home and globally, in the last two decades; through new equity-focused partnerships, and with an emphasis on a modernized and cost-effective grid, the CA-S4A program will help the state do so again."

"Solar for All" grant funding is provided by the EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.

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The projects funded this year not only lower energy costs in low-income and disadvantaged communities but also create good jobs in communities that have been “left behind,” advancing environmental justice and tackling climate change, the EPA said in a statement.

As the cheapest form of energy, solar-generated energy is one of the best ways to lower utility costs for American families. The Solar for All awards "will mean that low-income communities, and not just well-off communities, will feel the cost-saving benefits of solar," John Podesta, senior adviser to the president for International Climate Policy, said in a statement.