Austin Energy stands to lose $32 million for solar power projects for low-income people. The loss comes after the Trump administration announced plans to cancel a Biden era clean energy program called "Solar for All."
According to the utility, the funds would have helped 2,500 residential low-income homes and 25 multifamily buildings and community centers receive free solar energy and battery storage installations.
People like solar power for a lot of reasons. It’s better for the environment, fights climate change and lowers energy bills. But not everybody owns a home for rooftop panels, and the cost, while decreasing, is still out of reach for many.
These were challenges the grants from the Environmental Protection Agency hoped to address.
Passed as part of the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, the program committed $7 billion of federal funds to build cost-saving solar and storage projects for low and moderate income communities across the country.
On Friday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans and claw back that money.
In his announcement, Zeldin framed the move as a cost-cutting measure and questioned the efficiency of the program, referring to it as a “grift.�
He also said that the EPA could no longer administer Solar for All because its authority to do so had been removed by the Trump administration’s recent .
“We are committed to the rule of law,� Zeldin said.
But advocates for renewable energy and low income ratepayers have of cutting funds already promised to states and local governments.
Austin Energy reacts to federal cuts
“We are disappointed by this announcement,� Austin Energy interim General Manager Stuart Reilly said in a statement. “Our local implementation of this grant was set to innovate in solar and energy storage.�
The utility said the $32 million it received from the program would have would have benefited about 3,000 low income Austinites.
It would have added an estimated 20 megawatts of local solar panels. One megawatt is about enough electricity to power 200 homes in times of peak energy demand.
The battery storage would have helped meet electric demands when the sun wasn't shining or in the case of a power failure.
Medically vulnerable people would have been given priority to receive aid, as back-up power could keep medical equipment running during outages.
‘Texans are already struggling�
In total, Texas stands to lose $250 million from the cancellation of the program.
The types of projects Solar for All was set to fund varied throughout Texas, a state where nearly .
According to Margo Weisz, executive director of the Texas Energy Poverty Research Institute, the projects included rooftop solar projects, community solar projects that allow groups to save money on their bills through shared purchasing of solar electricity, and battery storage systems to dispatch solar power when the sun is not shining and increase energy reliability.
Weisz said the projects approved for Solar for All were required to reduce people's bills by at least 20%, or about $460 annually, and would have helped an estimated 28,000 low to moderate income Texans.
“Texans are already struggling in an environment where we're projecting energy bills to continue to go up due to increased demand on our grid,� said Weisz, whose group had been awarded Solar For All funds to help with projects in border communities and elsewhere.
Lawsuits over the future of the Solar for All funding are all but assured.
The Trump administrationwhen a federal judge ruled that nonprofits benefiting from another pot of Biden-era clean energy money could not have their funds cut off.
