A pilot program that has already provided rooftop solar to 10 low-income homeowners in Coastal Georgia is poised to expand dramatically.
The U.S. EPA announced Monday it is awarding $156 million to the Capital Good Fund, a nonprofit community development financial institution, to develop cost-saving solar programs across Georgia over five years. The funding will allow Capital Good Fund’s solar lease program, Georgia BRIGHT, to bring solar panels to an estimated 5,000 rooftops in Georgia, among other programs.
If successful, the program will provide a significant increase to the state’s rooftop solar stock. Georgia had 12,220 solar installations of all types at the end of March, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
Georgia BRIGHT’s ongoing $4-million pilot project is expected to provide up to 200 solar installations across the state, said Andy Posner, Founder and CEO of Capital Good Fund. It’s also providing insights into what Georgians want in solar. For example, a surprising two-thirds of low income applicants have opted to include battery storage in their lease.
EPA awarded a total of $7 billion in Solar for All competitive grants to 60 states, tribal governments, municipalities, and nonprofits across the country to expand access to solar power. The grants are funded through the federal Inflation Reduction Act. These programs are intended to benefit communities with lower incomes and provide workforce development with solar energy and related jobs.
“Solar is the cheapest form of electricity—and one of the best ways to lower energy costs for American families,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy in a statement. “Today’s announcement of EPA’s Solar for All awards will mean that low-income communities, and not just well-off communities, will feel the cost-saving benefits of solar thanks to this investment.”
In Georgia, Nicole Lee owns and operates Be Smart Home Solutions, the Georgia BRIGHT installer along the coast. Her crew of 12 has installed 10 solar arrays in the Savannah area as part of the pilot program, which began last fall. She plans to expand her workforce to “as large as it needs to be” to meet the increased demand.
Lee is Black and so are many of her customers and employees. She credits Georgia BRIGHT with opening new job opportunities.
“It’s more so changing the face of what people thought solar was,” Lee said. “Like now you see African American guys on a roof, installing solar. A few years back, doing one of my training classes, we had a student asking, ‘how come we don’t see a lot of African American people doing this work?’ ‘And I was like, ‘because there aren’t a lot of African American people doing the work that I did.'”
Along with scaling up its solar leasing pilot program, Capital Good Fund and its partners, including the cities of Savannah, Decatur and Atlanta, are aiming to provide free solar and battery storage for 700 to 1,000 low income homeowners who are medically dependent on electricity, for items like a CPAP machine that aids breathing during sleep.
There’s also money in the budget for “enabling repairs.” Not surprisingly, some low-income homeowners need major fixes to their homes before they can add solar panels.
“So if you’re a low-income homeowner, and you’re eligible for the program, you just need a new roof, we’ll be able to just give you a new roof for free,” Posner said. “We have $32 million for those kinds of repairs. And we’ll need every penny. You know, already about half of the people who’ve inquired about our program can’t participate because of the age of their roof. So we’ve got them on a big list for when this goes live. That’s really a game changer. Because you can do a lease, it’s affordable. But if you include the roof cost, you can’t.”
Lee intends to circle back to homeowners who were previously rejected for repairs.
“And maybe make it work for them, and get them their roofs put on and electrical upgrades and more,” Lee said. “Trim those trees back so that they can have the direct light.”
Businesses and nonprofits can also tap into solar through a planned community benefits program.
“This is the idea of doing solar on, ideally, a mission-aligned organization, but it doesn’t have to be,” Posner said. “It could be a warehouse or factory, what have you. But crucially, that owner, the beneficiary of the power, has to agree to share a significant percentage of their savings with the community in the form of a community benefit agreement.”
Details of the grants will be worked out by the end of September and Posner expects to have the expanded residential lease program operating by October. Georgia BRIGHT intends to partner with trusted community groups to get the word out about the programs.
Although both the pilot and the expanded program operate statewide, Savannah provided the catalyst in the form of its acting director of the Office of Sustainability, Alicia Brown.
“She’s the reason this program exists,” Posner said. “She’s the reason we’re in Georgia and were it not for her I probably would have not ended up applying. So she deserves all the credit in the world for moving on this and pushing it.”
The Tide brings regular notes and observations on news and events by The Current staff.
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