The Center for Rural Affairs announced Monday that it has been awarded $62 million to make solar energy more accessible and affordable for residential customers across Nebraska and to help grow the industry in the state.
The competitive grant was among 60 nationwide — totaling $7 billion — that the Environmental Protection Agency awarded through its Solar for All program, which is part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Brian Depew, the center’s executive director, said the program is intended to transform residential solar markets and to help low-income and historically excluded groups benefit from solar energy through ownership opportunities, utility bill reduction and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
The center has estimated that the program will increase the amount of solar energy deployed in the state by more than 60% over the five-year grant. The aim is for the Nebraska Solar for All project to reach more than 9,000 households and deploy more than 60 megawatts of solar.
“This is a significant amount of solar compared to what we have here in Nebraska currently,” he said.
The overall goal of the program, however, isn’t just to install solar arrays but to create community engagement in the projects, build industry capacity, help develop the workforce and demonstrate what’s possible so the work can continue into the future.
“This is the start, not the finish,” Depew said.
Some of that work already has begun. As the center was preparing its application last summer, its staff held more than 50 meetings with utilities, state agencies, housing developers, solar companies, Native American tribes and community groups.
“This will be a real challenge to implement,” Depew said. “But I’m confident all of those partners together can rise to the challenge.”
The center has outlined a three-part strategy that will focus on different parts of the residential solar market.
Community solar will be developed in collaboration with utilities, which would partner on utility-scale solar arrays built to benefit eligible residents.
Multifamily affordable family housing solar, which Depew said he’s particularly excited about, will involve partnering with utilities and low-income housing developers to include solar in multifamily units. Tenants would save on utilities and lock in the cost of electricity for the next two or three decades.
The third part would provide for the installation of rooftop solar for qualified residents.
Cliff Mesner of Mesner Development Co. in Central City, Nebraska, which develops housing and solar projects, said the program will not only expand solar in the state but also bolster housing by making utility service more affordable.
“I think it’s got some real potential to develop some solar and deploy it very efficiently,” he said. “I’m excited about the possibilities.”
Depew said the center will finance projects through low-interest loans, grants and subsidies. Some 80% of the grant funding would go toward those financing mechanisms, which will be designed to save participants 20% on their electric bills. The center also will provide technical assistance.
Participants will repay a portion of the financing so that the center can continue to finance new projects, creating a long-lasting program.
The center next will negotiate a five-year contract with EPA, which officials hope to complete by September, he said. Officials are in the process of hiring a new Nebraska Solar for All director to lead the project and also expect to fill 10 additional positions.
The grant was one of two awarded in the EPA’s Region 7, which covers Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri. A quasi-governmental organization in Missouri received $156 million. Agencies and organizations in Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming also received funding.