In Waterbury, Congressional delegation, EPA head hail new federal solar initiative
July 2, 2023 | By Aubrey Weaver | Community News Service In a visit to Waterbury last week, Vermont’s Congressional delegation and Environmental Protection Agency administrator announced $7 billion in federal funding for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program that will help pay to put solar panels atop millions of homes across the country.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan speaks during Wednesday’s announcement at the headquarters of solar provider SunCommon. With him are U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, Waterbury resident Ian Shea, and U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Peter Welch. Photo by Gordon Miller
The announcement was held indoors at the SunCommon headquarters after rainstorms prompted moving the location from a residential neighborhood downtown.
Created last summer, the Solar for All program will oversee loans and grants for low- and moderate-income Americans to install solar panels on their homes. On hand for the announcement on Wednesday were Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., and EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan.
Sanders introduced the program which he championed last year as part of the Inflation Reduction Act that was signed into law in August 2022. The Solar for All program will help expand access to rooftop and residential solar by awarding grants to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits. The grants will expand existing low-income solar programs as well as develop and implement new Solar for All programs nationwide.
“It is no secret to the people in the state of Vermont that climate change is an existential threat not only to our state and country, but to the entire planet,” Sanders said as a preface to the announcement.
He pointed to the ongoing poor air quality in Vermont due to forest fires in Quebec and heat waves in Texas as well as in other countries around the world. “That is the reality and whether people want to face it or not, that is what is going on on this planet today and if we do not get our act together and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels into sustainable energies and energy efficiency it is really quite questionable the quality of life our kids and grandchildren will be having not only in this country but all over the world,” Sanders said.
Vermont’s Congressional delegation: U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. Photo by Gordon Miller
He then turned to introduce the Solar for All initiative. “I am very proud to have worked for a number of years on a program, which was passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will provide $7 billion into Vermont and every state in this country, to make it much much easier for working families to be able to install solar panels on their rooftop,” said Sanders. “Our hope is by the way that within the next 10 years … we’re talking about 10 million rooftops throughout America having solar panels that otherwise might not have.”
According to federal documents, the $7 billion is set to be spread across 60 awards. Up to 56 of those awards are meant for states, territories and nonprofits. Up to five are for tribal governments, and up to 10 are meant for multistate programs. Officials plan to divide the awards into small, medium and large projects, with a range between $25 million and $400 million per award. The deadline to apply for funds is Sept. 26 with a target for decisions to be made by next March and grant awards to be given out next July.
Waterbury homeowner makes the case
Middle school science teacher and Waterbury resident Ian Shea speaks at the Solar for All announcement. behind him are EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan and U.S. Sen. Peter Welch. Photo by Gordon Miller
Joining Sanders and the others on Wednesday was Waterbury resident Ian Shea, a science teacher at Stowe Middle School who said he installed solar panels on his Winooski Street home in 2019 with help from a loan program.
“Even before I put solar on my house, I would tell my students, you got to go solar. It's so simple. It's so easy. Everybody should be doing this. And they would ask me, ‘Well, Mr. Shea, do you have solar on your house?’ And the answer at the time was, ‘No,’” Shea said.
He said he knew he needed to make an adjustment. “I called up my friend here at SunCommon. We got a site visit scheduled and before I knew it, I was producing my own electricity.”
Ian Shea with partner Logan Shuman and their dog Maverick at their home with rooftop solar in downtown Waterbury. Photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Wednesday’s event was originally scheduled to be held outdoors at Shea’s home but rainstorms led to it being shifted to SunCommon’s headquarters nearby on U.S. Route 2 in Waterbury.
Explaining how the loan to solar program works from his personal experience, Shea told the audience of reporters, local leaders and SunCommon employees, “In essence, the monthly bills I was paying my power company have now been replaced by the loan monthly bills.”
“What's better yet is, in a couple years when I (have finished) paying that loan, I will no longer be paying for any energy I'm using in my household. That's huge,” Shea added.
Sen. Sanders shakes hands with Shea. Photo by Gordon Miller
Sanders acknowledged that various rebate programs currently exist to lower the cost to homeowners to install solar, but even with those, it takes an investment of about $18,000 that is still out of reach for many.
“We want to do better,” Sanders explained, noting that the EPA will work with each state on how to implement the Solar for All program to allow for both grants and loans to be offered, all with the objective of targeting low- and moderate-income homeowners to make installing solar affordable.
The program can help “reduce substantially the electric bill you are paying by 80 or 90%. And as part of this program, you are not going to pay a nickel more for your electric bill for however long it takes to pay off that loan,” Sanders said. “You have virtually free electricity. So it's a pretty good deal.”
Local efforts helped start a wave
When it was his turn to speak, Welch looked in the audience to Waterbury resident Duncan McDougall, chair of the Waterbury Local Energy Action Partnership. Welch asked how long ago it was when Waterbury LEAP began running its annual energy fairs that gather experts and contractors in renewable energy for the public to learn about how to add renewable energy and efficiency measures to their homes.
Waterbury LEAP founder and Chair Duncan McDougall, right, stands beside Rebecca Ellis, state director for Sen. Peter Welch and former Waterbury state representative. Photo by Gordon Miller
“15 years ago,” replied McDougall, who still chairs the nonprofit that is also the town’s volunteer energy committee.
“The leadership that started here in Waterbury and in other communities around the country … finally penetrated the halls of Washington and today with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, for the first time in the history of our country, we have a major public policy commitment to move away from fossil fuels and fully embrace clean energy options,” Welch said. “I’ve got to just remind the folks in Waterbury that those steps you took 15 years ago – that was the ripple that ultimately created this wave, and then the tsunami here with this legislation over a half trillion $ it has also accelerated private investment – SunCommon is an example of that – to start accelerating that transition to clean energy.”
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. Photo by Gordon Miller
Regan also complimented Vermont’s history with renewable energy in explaining why he had come to the state for the announcement: “This state has demonstrated exemplary leadership in implementing solar technology.”
“Thank you for showing the country how to effectively move towards a clean energy future,” Regan said. “You know, rooftop solar panels installed by companies like SunCommon not only demonstrate a perfect example of the transformative potential of renewable energy, but it also serves as a model for the community's willingness to move towards and embrace affordable, secure solutions to power your homes and your businesses.”
Balint pointed out that the solar program came about during the 117th Congress before she was elected in November 2022. She replaced Welch as Vermont’s lone representative in Congress after Welch was elected to succeed former U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy.
“I wasn’t there passing the legislation, but I was running on these issues both as a state senator and then when I was running for Congress, knowing that what I heard across Vermont especially from young people was we need some hope here – we need to understand that it's going to get better,” she recalled. “So this is a statement about what better looks like. This is a statement of hope for the future.”
The Solar for All program will put those goals in practice for many Americans, she noted. “This is a program for regular people, for rural people, for working class people across the state and nation that want to be able to contribute to the economy and a way of life that is better for the environment,” Balint said.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., speaks at the Solar for All announcement at SunCommon on Wednesday, June 28. Photo by Gordon Miller
She also addressed the program’s big price tag, saying it is critical to the objective. “We have to invest in government. We cannot starve agencies. We cannot starve programs if we want them to work for regular people,” Balint said. “So this is a way for all three of us to stand here and say government is absolutely part of the solution to some of our most intractable problems – climate change being one of them. It is a big-ticket item. It needs to be a big-ticket item because we have a lot of change to make.”
More information online
Wednesday’s announcement and visit to Vermont by the EPA administrator was part of a national tour by the Biden-Harris administration where Regan is announcing new resources from the Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change, advance environmental justice, and support jobs in clean energy. Solar for All is part of the EPA’s $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created by the act.
The announcement in Waterbury was recorded and can be viewed online on the Environmental Protection Agency's YouTube channel. Additional details on the competition can be found HERE and HERE.
Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. Waterbury Roundabout reporter Lisa Scagliotti contributed to this report.