On April 22nd, in celebration of Earth Day, the Biden-Harris administration unveiled the Solar for All program, a historic $7 billion investment in clean energy deployment and access for every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. New Mexico was one of 60 entities selected and was awarded $156 million in federal funding through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Program. Funds came from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), a component of the administration’s Invest in America agenda.
The Solar for All grants will allow states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits to develop sustainable solar programs that give low-income and disadvantaged communities access to the benefits from distributed residential solar. The Solar for All projects will lower family energy costs, create good-quality jobs, advance environmental justice, replace climate-polluting fossil fuel energy with clean, renewable solar, and lead to cleaner air and healthier communities.
Solar for All is part of the IRA’s Justice 40 Initiative, which mandates that at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, affordable and sustainable housing, and other investments flow to disadvantaged communities marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution. All the funds awarded through the Solar for All program will be invested in low-income and disadvantaged communities. The selected grantees said they intend to invest in local, clean energy workforce development programs to expand equitable pathways into family-sustaining jobs for the communities they are designed to serve. In addition, Solar for All will not only provide grants and low-cost financing to overcome financial barriers to residential solar deployment, but also provide services to communities to overcome other barriers such as siting, permitting, and grid interconnection.
The EPA anticipates that awards will be finalized in the summer of 2024, and grantees will begin funding projects through existing programs and begin expansive community outreach programs to launch new programs in the fall and winter of this year.
New Mexico Community Solar
In New Mexico, the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) will administer the Solar for All program. Given the timing of the federal funding rollout, EMNRD expects that the program’s first solar system installations will begin in early 2025. The agency will make grants and low-interest loans available to entities that provide access to solar power in low-income and rural households across the state, focusing on community solar (EMNRD refers to this as “shared solar access”). EMNRD’s first step will be to form an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee to help ensure that program benefits effectively reach low-income residents.
The Community Solar Act passed the Legislature and was signed by the Governor in 2021, but it had been in litigation until early in 2024, when the courts ruled that community solar projects could move forward. Community solar projects serve multiple households, including renters in multifamily units who often cannot install rooftop solar. Funds will also go to local utility power infrastructure upgrades to ensure that community solar systems function properly on the grid. In areas not connected to the grid, such as many tribal households, funds will support residential rooftop solar installation (with roof repairs if needed) coupled with battery backup power. There are already a number of approved project proposals under the Community Solar Act that had been waiting for the courts to reach a decision. EMNRD’s goal with the Solar for All funds is to expand access to community solar beyond the initial scope of the current proposals by bringing the most isolated and off-grid residents online and by supporting grid resilience with on-site solar.
The Solar for All program could provide an estimated 21,000 New Mexico households with access to clean renewable solar energy and save low-income residents more than $299 million in energy costs over a 20-year period. The Solar for All program could add 21 megawatts of solar energy capacity to the state’s power grid along with 8 megawatt hours of stored energy for supplemental supply.
A good example of a community solar project is the small array built by Kit Carson Rural Electric Co-op on Picuris Pueblo land. It supplies Picuris Pueblo members with electricity, with extra production serving people in the surrounding community.
In addition to the Solar for All grant awarded to New Mexico, tribal peoples in New Mexico will also benefit from a separate grant given to California-based GRID Alternatives, the nation’s leading non-profit provider of community-led renewable energy solutions. The GRID National Tribal Program’s Western Indigenous Network Solar for All program received $62,450,000 to partner with tribal nations across the country, prioritizing five states, including New Mexico. The funding could help close the tribal solar energy gap in the US and support job creation and tribal energy sovereignty.