The Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) has been a particular target for funding pauses, freezes, and rollbacks. One part of the program, however, the $7 billion subsection comprising the Solar for All program, has had some movement. The program is meant to boost access to residential rooftop solar in low-income communities. While the entirety of its funding has been awarded, it is unclear the amount that has already been outlaid to states. These funds were awarded in April 2024 to 60 entities, including 25 states and territories, a handful of Tribal and local governments, and a substantial number of NGOs (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Awarded Solar for All Funding by Recipient Type
Source: Climate Program Portal Outcomes Dashboard.
The program’s funding was frozen on January 29th in a swath of funding freezes by the administration, but then officially unpaused by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on February 26th. Entities from states including Georgia, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, and New Mexico began to announce that they were once again able to access the payment system where they may request reimbursements from their awarded sums. These developments are notable given the limited rooftop solar deployment, all under eight percent of households as of the 2020 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (Figure 2). Other states like Louisiana and Pennsylvania have yet to launch their programs, but officials in these states have voiced uncertainty about the federal situation.
Figure 2: Residential Rooftop Solar Deployment, 2020
Tracking the funding with specificity is difficult, as about $1.4 billion was made to groups with projects in multiple states. Additionally, it would require constant reporting from state, territory, and Tribal Nation governments as well as non-profits to measure the dollars that are actually still available.
Further, there is still a chance that the federal government attempts to claw back this funding, especially in the face of the fact that the other two arms of GGRF funding are in court over their $20 billion in awards being rescinded by EPA. That effort was stymied by a federal judge on March 18, 2025. This uncertainty over Solar for All funding is reflected in statements from a technical advisor for the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission, who highlighted that the state had to act with urgency to distribute the funds as quickly as possible. The official’s worries crystallized with the March 19, 2025 announcement that the EPA would be conducting an audit of the Solar for All program.
Still, though, some states are making progress. Yesterday, Massachusetts launched its Solar for All site, which announces that the state hopes to begin dispersing funding in the summer of 2025. New Mexico appears to be on a similar timeline, as are Nevada, Utah, and Wisconsin, while other states like California remain in the planning phase. At the same time, success stories from similar structured but state-run programs are coming from the District of Columbia and Illinois, displaying that this sort of program design can be successful, even without federal support.
All in all, regardless of funding pauses, it is overarchingly opaque at state levels the amount of funding from programs like Solar for All that have already been sub-awarded. Consumers rely on consistent communication from the state agencies managing them. As a result, it is critical that these bodies prioritize alerting in-state consumers — particularly those low-income consumers that are eligible for a greater fraction of these benefits — as their respective funding pots dwindle, especially in the face of widespread uncertainty from so many other authorities.
