A pilot project is set to begin leasing solar installations to low- and moderate-income homeowners in Pennsylvania. But the program could face the budget axe should Donald Trump regain the White House and follow through on an election promise.
Pennsylvania BRIGHT, a clean energy project run by the non-profit Capital Good Fund, was enabled by President Biden’s signature climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act.
Under the program, people in certain “disadvantaged” census tracts or in households making less than $100,000 a year are eligible to lease solar panels for as little as $40 a month.
“Our prices are much lower because we can access grant dollars,” said Andy Posner, CEO of Capital Good Fund, which is based in Providence, R.I. “We don’t have to make a profit. We just need to cover our costs.”
Posner says the program generally leads to savings for people who install the solar panels.
“You kind of own the savings without owning the hassle of the system. You don’t have to file for tax credits. You’re not applying for permits,” Posner said.
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Pennsylvania BRIGHT received over $1 million from three Pennsylvania foundations, The Heinz Endowments, the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and The Pittsburgh Foundation, to begin work in the state, Posner said. (The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation also fund The Allegheny Front.)
The program is aiming to sign up 100 households in a nine-county region near Pittsburgh and another 60 in the Philadelphia area, said Posner. The program will be available in Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties in the western part of the state.
Posner would like the program to ramp up in size over time by tapping into $156 million in federal money awarded to Pennsylvania through the EPA’s Solar for All program, which was funded by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“There’s hundreds of thousands of homes that could benefit from this in the commonwealth. And we’d like to reach as many of them as we can,” he said.
What a Trump administration would do
But that expansion could hit a brick wall if Trump is elected in November. That’s because Trump has promised to rescind any unspent funds from the IRA.
“There’s all manner of ways in which a hostile administration could gum up the works. And the Inflation Reduction Act is a target of congressional Republicans. It’s a target of the Trump campaign,” he said.
“What if the IRS just doesn’t respond to our request [for payment] and now we can’t claim the tax credit? It is not a partisan statement to say that this is in the crosshairs and would be seriously in jeopardy under a Trump administration.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
How the IRA solar tax credits work
The program owes its existence to changes in federal tax law in the IRA. Before the law passed in 2022, the benefits of federal investment tax credits for solar – which amount to 30 percent of a project’s costs – were only available to higher income earners. Those who made enough to owe significant amounts in federal taxes, could benefit from the tax credit, which is basically a refund on taxes paid to the IRS. But if you don’t owe that much in federal taxes, because you don’t make that much money, you wouldn’t get to reap the benefits of the credit.
Marc Thomas, 78, of Savannah, Ga., was among the first to sign up for the Georgia Bright solar program, which included batteries to store solar electricity. Photo: Georgia BRIGHT
The IRA found a workaround to this problem. It expanded the eligibility of the tax credit by allowing non-profits to claim the tax credit on behalf of lower-income earners.
“The money goes to us, but we use that to lower the lease price,” Posner said. “As a result of that, we can offer a lower lease price than they otherwise would get. Which leads to day one savings on their energy bill.”
The program also offers house batteries to store energy generated by the solar panels. After six years, the homeowner can purchase the solar system outright for a prorated cost.
Pa. project modeled after a Georgia program
The program is modeled after a similar pilot the group started in another state, Georgia BRIGHT.
Marc Thomas, 78, of Savannah, Ga., was among the first to sign up for the program. A retiree, Thomas said having solar panels has shaved his electric bill, from around $160 to about $130 a month.
“That makes a big difference. It makes our electric more affordable,” said Thomas. “There’s still costs and we still have to include it in the budget, but it’s significantly less.”
Delmira Jennings, 57, of Athens, Ga., another retiree who took part in the program, called getting panels earlier this year her “small way to impact climate change in a positive way by not using as much fossil fuel” to power her house.
She also was attracted to getting a battery tied into the solar installation, so that when storms come through her area, she doesn’t lose power.
“There have been a couple storms, and I’d say probably about three or four instances where we lost power, and the batteries kicked in to ensure that we were able to have our wi-fi and our power on,” Jennings said.
Those interested in the Pennsylvania program can learn more at the project’s web site.
