While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week that the funding for the Solar for All grants has been unfrozen, an expert told New Mexico regulators that the state needs to act fast.
The Solar for All grant program — $7 billion in total — is the result of the Inflation Reduction Act and New Mexico was selected to receive $156 million of that funding to help low-income households and communities access renewable energy.
Art O’Donnell, a technical advisor for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, provided an update on that funding to state regulators on Wednesday during a special meeting focused on community solar.
New Mexico was one of 60 entities selected for the grant funding, which was announced in September.
O’Donnell said programs around the country that had received Solar for All grant funding were just beginning to access their money when President Donald Trump took office in January. Then the portal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shut down.
“It took a couple of days to get an explanation,” he said.
O’Donnell said Trump froze funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Then, on Tuesday, news broke that the funding for the Solar for All grants was unfrozen and the EPA portal was reopened.
“A statement from EPA said that it reviewed these programs and that the funding could go forward. Now, that statement does not appear on the EPA website even this morning,” O’Donnell said.
The EPA issued a press release the day before alleging $20 billion of fraud with the management of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Solar for All grants are one of three grant programs under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which was created by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“It is my pledge to be accountable for every penny the EPA spends. This marks a stark turn from the waste and self-dealing of the Biden-Harris Administration intentionally tossing ‘gold bars off the Titanic.’ The American people deserve accountability and responsible stewardship of their tax dollars. We will continue to deliver,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the press release.
In light of those developments, O’Donnell said the Solar for All grant funding situation “remains fluid.”
“New Mexico needs to act fast to secure the money,” he said.
He said the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department — the entity that received the grant — is working to process and allocate the funds.
O’Donnell said the PRC’s portion of the funding is intended to help pay for interconnection upgrades needed to bring community solar projects online.
He said the PRC could receive $18 million of the state’s $156 million Solar for All grant, which is not enough to pay for all of the upgrades needed.
“There’s going to have to be some criterion for figuring out how to allocate this money,” he said.
