Nevada is one of several states being cut off from millions of dollars in community solar funding, despite those funds already being legally obligated to the state.
The Nevada Clean Energy Fund — a nonprofit bank created by state legislation — was awarded a $156 million grant in April by the Environmental Protection Agency to finance community solar projects that benefit low-income households under the Solar for All program.
Those funds are now frozen following President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order “Unleashing American Energy,” calling for the immediate halt of energy grants, loans and contracts funded through the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act.
Grant recipients in states nationwide were cut off from contractually obligated funding under the Solar for All program Wednesday, according to reporting by E&E News.
A source with knowledge on the matter said the Nevada Clean Energy Fund was among those that lost access Wednesday to the EPA’s online grant management portal, which is used to distribute Solar for All funds, according to Nevada Current.
“The agency has paused all funding actions related to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at this time,” said Michael Brogan, a press officer with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 9, which oversees Nevada.
Applications for the program opened in December, while funds were expected to be distributed to property owners and community solar hosts as soon as early February 2025, but now the future of the program is uncertain without clear federal funding.
Since the Nevada Clean Energy Fund was created in 2017 under Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, Nevada has contributed several rounds of funding to it in anticipation of additional federal funds. In 2023, the Nevada Legislature allocated $1 million to the fund before submitting an application for the EPA’s Solar for All grant months later.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo’s office did not respond to requests for comment about Nevada’s Solar for All funds.
The Solar for All funds were expected to finance about 125 multifamily affordable housing and community solar projects across Nevada, lowering energy costs by at least 20% for more than 20,000 low-income and disadvantaged households in Nevada by 2029.
Construction demands for the roof-top solar projects funded by the green bank were also expected to create nearly 1,000 “high-quality jobs” throughout Nevada.
Funds for the Solar For All program were already congressionally appropriated and legally obligated to the Nevada Clean Energy Fund prior to the funding freeze, prompting renewable energy advocates to call the move “illegal” and “unconstitutional.”
“This is yet another way the Trump administration is attacking low-income families,” said Chispa Nevada Program Director Audrey Peral in a statement Thursday. “Cutting this program is not only unconstitutional, but immoral when electricity rates are at an all-time high and rising.”
Chispa Nevada purchased $130,000 in bilingual television and digital ads in December to promote the now underfunded program to Spanish speaking neighborhoods.
