In July 2023, senior officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency joined North Carolina Congresswoman Valerie Foushee at EPA's Research Triangle Park campus to highlight a $7 billion grant competition aimed at expanding residential solar for low-income and disadvantaged communities. The Solar for All program, part of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, was created under the Inflation Reduction Act as a major piece of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

What Solar for All Was Designed to Do

The competition aimed to award up to 60 grants to states, territories, tribal governments, municipalities, and eligible nonprofits to build programs that help low-income households access residential and community solar. The goal was straightforward: increase access to affordable, resilient, clean solar energy for families who historically have been priced out of rooftop solar even as the technology has become cheaper over the past decade.

A few principles guided the program:

Direct benefit to residents. Participating households had to see at least 20% savings on their electric bills.
Priority for disadvantaged communities. Federal definitions under the Justice40 Initiative directed investments toward communities carrying disproportionate environmental and economic burdens.
Long-term sustainability. Grants had to fund programs designed to continue beyond the initial award, not one-off installations.
Workforce development. Many grant applications layered training programs for local installers, particularly for workers from participating communities.

The North Carolina Press Event

The Research Triangle Park press event served as an early marker in the competition, highlighting EPA's partnership with congressional champions of the program. Congresswoman Foushee, whose district includes parts of the Research Triangle, had been an active supporter of clean energy investment and environmental justice.

The event also gave North Carolina-based nonprofits and state agencies a chance to signal their interest in competing for the funding. Competition was expected to be intense; only about 60 grants would be awarded nationally from what was anticipated to be a much larger pool of applicants.

How North Carolina Eventually Fared

EPA announced Solar for All selections in April 2024. North Carolina received $156 million, awarded to a state coalition that included the North Carolina Clean Energy Fund, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Advanced Energy, and the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. The grant was designed to serve roughly 12,500 low-income and disadvantaged households across the state, including communities on state- and federally recognized tribal lands.

The coalition planned to deploy a mix of single-family rooftop solar, community solar subscriptions, and multifamily solar projects, with a focus on communities where energy burdens were highest.

What Participants Would See

For participating households, Solar for All was designed to eliminate the biggest barriers to rooftop solar: upfront cost, credit requirements, and technical complexity. Under typical program models, a qualifying homeowner would pay little or nothing out of pocket, and would see monthly electric bill savings beginning shortly after the system was activated. Renters could benefit through subscriptions to community solar arrays that generated credits on their utility bills.

Programs also usually layered in additional services:

Home energy audits and weatherization so that savings were not wasted on leaky buildings
Roof replacement funding in some cases, since panels require structurally sound roofs
Consumer education about how solar generates, what homeowners can expect to see on bills, and how to address problems

The Later Cancellation

The program's story did not end with the April 2024 awards. On August 7, 2025, the EPA under a new administration announced it would no longer implement the Solar for All program. A law signed by President Trump in July 2025 repealed Section 134 of the Clean Air Act and rescinded funding for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

The cancellation drew sharp criticism from congressional Democrats, including Foushee herself. Along with Representatives Deborah Ross, Don Davis, and Alma Adams, Foushee signed a letter condemning the reversal and urging EPA to restore the funding. The letter argued that the cancellation broke a commitment to communities that had spent more than a year preparing to deploy solar under the grant, and that it would raise energy costs for the low-income families the program was designed to help.

What Remained for North Carolina

Even with the federal program rescinded, North Carolina's solar ecosystem retained significant momentum. Utility-scale solar continued to grow rapidly in the state, and private installers continued to offer residential solar with financing options. Separate state and utility programs, including Duke Energy's residential incentives, continued to operate, though at smaller scale than Solar for All would have delivered.

Homeowners in North Carolina interested in solar could still benefit from the federal residential solar tax credit, which remained in place for eligible installations. Low-income households facing higher barriers could look to nonprofit-led solar programs, utility efficiency programs, and weatherization funding that continued to receive separate federal support.

Why the Announcement Mattered

The 2023 press event at Research Triangle Park captured a moment when federal investment in clean energy for low-income communities seemed poised to grow significantly. For North Carolina, the eventual $156 million award represented more climate-equity funding than the state had ever received. Even though the program was later canceled, the announcement helped build coalitions among state agencies, nonprofits, and advocates that continue to work on clean energy access through other channels.

NC EPA and Foushee Highlight $7 Billion Solar for All Grant