With an investment of $7,000 million dollars for the entire country, the president’s government Joe Biden launches a solar panel program so that families can install the equipment in their homeswhich will mean savings of up to $400 in electricity costs.
“Under the $7 billion Solar Panels for All program, the 60 selected applicants will create new solar programs for low-income people or expand existing ones, allowing more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to benefit from distributed solar energy,” indicated the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Brenda Mallory, president of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, highlighted in an interview that the program benefits communities with a Latino population.
“What we know is that it’s this particular population of low-income people in this community where their electric bills are significant and sometimes it can be really challenging for them to cover those costs,” he said. “Solar energy is a cheaper alternative to electricity. And so it will allow us to address that burden that we know some people are experiencing. “We think it will actually be like a $400 per household benefit on electric bills.”
This new program is part of the Biden Administration’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and although it will have a presence in 49 states, 25 states and territories have never had a state solar program for low-income people.
There are requests that are focused on tribes and innovative multistate groups, who will distribute the funds to families in their communities.
“This is basically available through the President’s Inflation Reduction Act,” Mallory said in a telephone interview. “And this will allow us to support low-income community members’ access to residential solar, and we believe it will allow solar to reach more than 900,000 homes in disadvantaged communities, which are people who often don’t have the ability to take advantage [esta tecnología] because of the kind of upfront costs that are associated with it.”
How does the program work
The 60 entities that EPA and Mallory mention were selected to receive the funds, which will be administered to directly benefit families.
“They are entities that are working with the communities and identifying people who live in the communities who are interested in installing solar energy on their properties,” Mallory said. “They have had some difficulty accepting [esta tecnología] due to cost or just information.”
The new program will make it possible to disseminate the existence of the funds and how to apply for said aid.
“They will follow up on this and others will do outreach to identify people who are interested in taking advantage of installing solar energy on their property,” Mallory said.
Job creation
The program will not only benefit families, but will also contribute to the creation of 200,000 jobs during its five-year operation.
“About 200,000 jobs will be created from this program over the next five years,” said the expert. “And this is a really important feature, because One of the president’s key initiatives is what we call the Justice 40 initiative.which attempts to ensure that low-income communities actually benefit from the federal programs that are being implemented and one of the benefits is not only the improved air quality and health benefits associated with solar energy, but also the job”.
Mallory indicated that the types of jobs that will be created are diverse, including installation experts, but also maintenance, among others.
People interested in the solar panel program should visit the EPA website (click here).
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