Hope Enterprise receives $93.67 million for solar programs in Arkansas

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Tuesday (April 23) that the Hope Enterprise Corporation will receive $93.67 million from the Solar for All grant program to fund residential solar that benefits low-income and disadvantaged communities in Arkansas.

Hope is a group of development organizations that help communities in the Delta and other economically distressed parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

The EPA award announced Tuesday is part of a $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund created under the Inflation Reduction Act signed into law by President Joe Biden. Only 60 applicants nationwide were selected to participate in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The Hope Enterprise Corporation’s grant is among 49 state-level awards totaling $5.5 billion, along with six awards to serve Tribes totaling over $500 million, and five multistate awards totaling $1 billion.

“Today we’re delivering on President Biden’s promise that no community is left behind by investing $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a statement. “The selectees will advance solar energy initiatives across the country, creating hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs, saving $8 billion in energy costs for families, delivering cleaner air, and combating climate change.”

According to the EPA statement, Hope will use the funds to support two primary methods to help boost the use of solar energy. The first is a “Residential Rooftop Solar for Low-Income Households” strategy that helps homeowners in areas with electricity provided by investor-owned utilities. The second is a “Multifamily Behind-the-Meter Solar for Low-Income Tenants,” program that funds efforts at apartments and other multifamily housing to benefit from solar energy.

Lauren Waldrip, executive director of the Arkansas Advanced Energy Foundation, called Tuesday’s announcement a “fiscal victory” for the state.

“This initiative exemplifies prudent economic stewardship, channeling taxpayer dollars back into our state to bolster local economies and reduce energy costs for our most vulnerable communities,” said Waldrip, whose organization partnered with Hope on the application. “The pressing need for enhanced power generation is evident, and distributed energy resources stand as part of a crucial solution to better serve rural communities, ensuring reliable and sustainable energy access.”

According to the EPA, the grant funding will be used by the recipients to fund projects through existing programs, and begin expansive community outreach programs to launch new programs in the fall and winter of this year.

Waldrip said the program will create jobs in the buildout phase and will create job opportunities in the communities where solar equipment and systems are installed.

“By investing in this energy, we are laying down the groundwork for sustainable economic growth and demonstrating responsible management of public funds,” she said.

The Solar for All program is part of President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative. According to the EPA, the programs are designed to meet the following goals:

• Achieving a carbon pollution-free power sector by 2035 and net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050;
• Enable more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed solar energy;
• Generate more than $350 million in annual savings on electric bills for overburdened households;
• Reduce 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions cumulatively, from over four gigawatts of solar energy capacity unlocked for low-income communities over five years; and,
• Generate an estimated 200,000 jobs across the country.