Nevada program promises lower power bills for low-income communities

Lawmakers are pushing to expand solar energy to low-income and disadvantaged communities through the “Solar for All” initiative.

The Nevada Clean Energy Fund will receive $156 million from the program to aid in lowering energy bills, reducing pollution, increasing power resiliency, investing in local businesses and creating quality jobs, officials said.

The funds, officials said, are a component of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund — a $27 billion investment to combat the climate crisis from the Biden administration using monies from the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Solar for All will provide badly needed financial and technical assistance to working families and disadvantaged communities in Nevada,” U.S. Rep Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said Tuesday at an event touting the investment. “This means nothing less than transforming the solar market and creating economic opportunities for communities throughout Southern Nevada.”

Officials said that two-thirds of the funding will go toward projects in communities that often struggle to access capital for proposals that reduce pollution and lower household energy bills. This includes communities of color and low-income, disadvantaged, rural and tribal communities, they said. As temperatures in North Las Vegas on Tuesday inched closer to 100 degrees, elected officials and nonprofit heads gathered to detail the program. The heat wasn’t lost on the speakers at the outdoor event.

“The heat just started, just barely began,” Chispa Nevada program director Audrey Peral said. “So when we think about the impacts of what that looks like in everyday life, when people have to choose between paying their utility bill and afford food on the table or rent.”

The Nevada Legislature created the clean energy fund in 2017 to finance loans for renewable energy projects with local governments, affordable housing developments, community groups, tribes and individual homeowners. The organization gives loans to low- and middle-income homeowners for solar installations or other energy-efficiency improvements.

State Sen. Dallas Harris, D-Las Vegas, said the investments would help improve air quality in Southern Nevada, particularly in low-income areas, as well as job opportunities.

“The investment will provide education, technical assistance and workforce development in rural, suburban and tribal communities ensuring that no one is left behind in our transition to clean energy,” Harris said.

Will Pregman, the program manager for the clean energy fund, said the money will launch community solar programs for low-income communities to lower residential electric bills. Community solar entails building a system in a public place that serves the surrounding neighborhood.

“We allocated a great deal toward the multifamily and community solar, but we still have a significant amount that will be for single-family (homes),” Pregman said. “That was part of our proposal, and that might change as we work it out with the EPA.”

Community solar entails building a system in a public place that serves the surrounding neighborhood. Horsford said it’s too early to say where community solar programs will launch in Southern Nevada.

“This approach is really a model for the country,” Horsford said. “I say we’re very excited to learn it benefits renters as well as homeowners. That’s not the case in every other jurisdiction.”