Communities throughout Utah were warming to a plan that promised to lower utility bills and bring electricity to parts of the state too rugged and remote for power lines.
But those plans were squelched earlier this month when the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded nearly all of a $62 million federal grant meant to expand solar energy across Utah. The move abruptly halted plans to cut utility bills, bring power to remote corners of the state and launch innovative renewable projects, leaving local leaders stunned.
“We live in a very sunny state,” said Jennifer Eden, senior climate and clean energy associate at Utah Clean Energy, one of the Solar for All of Utah’s partners. “And this was the opportunity of a generation to provide for people who can’t afford to do this themselves.”
The Solar for All program was part of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It dedicated $7 billion to help every corner of the nation pay for solar energy projects, particularly those benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities. Utah’s Office of Energy Development received just over $62 million from the program in April of 2024.
The EPA officially withdrew the Solar for All funds on Aug. 7. The state must return it all, minus a small amount already spent on staff time.
“Utah is an any-of-the-above energy state with vast and diverse energy resources,” Utah Office of Energy Development Director Emy Lesofski said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work with our federal partners on energy projects, including solar, that keep energy affordable, reliable and sustainable for Utah and the West.”
Utah Housing Corporation was in talks to use some of the Solar for All funds to install solar panels on its lease-to-own affordable homes.
“What that means is these lower income households ... are benefiting further from the reduction of their utility bills,” said Claudia O’Grady, vice president of multifamily financing for the organization.
Its lease-to-own program, called CROWN, rents houses below market rates then offers tenants the ability to buy the homes after 15 years using equity accrued while they rented. The program mostly benefits rural Utah, and O’Grady said Solar for All would have further reduced the cost of living for participants leasing around 20 homes in places like Heber, Hurricane and Kanab.
“Affordable housing takes numerous sources of funds to be accomplished,” she said. “It’s really a loss for our community.”
San Juan County, where around one in four residents live in poverty, stood to benefit the most from Solar for All.
“We’re kind of unique in that we’re the largest county in the state,” said Talia Hansen, San Juan County Economic Development director, “but we also have really diverse terrain. It can be difficult for us to get power to half our county.”
Parts of the Ute and Navajo reservations extend into the county as well, which have large communities without reliable water or electricity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, county workers struggled to help residents with no way to refrigerate medications, charge cell phones or contact emergency services.
County officials weren’t just looking at installing solar panels on rural homes, Hansen said. They were exploring creative solutions for residents, like using solar technology to purify water or power stoves.
“We’re a desert area. There aren’t trees,” Hansen said. “We have to go several hours to cut down wood and bring that to the community. Solar could answer a lot of those problems.”
Pitching the ideas, Hansen said, took a lot of trust building with residents skeptical about the government’s help.
“To have it taken away so quickly,” she said, “is really frustrating.”
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The town of Bluff is seen on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.
The Town of Bluff had plans to use Solar for All funds to install 189 donated solar panels at an old elementary school the town is converting into a cooperative cultural center.
“We have a lot of sunshine,” said Mayor Ann Leppanen. “And we have a huge building that, if you’re doing traditional heating and cooling, is going to be very expensive.”
The 19,000 square-foot structure will someday house town offices, child day care, art space and a business incubator. Leppanen also hopes to host some county services in the space, so residents in the southernmost reaches of San Juan County don’t have to drive hours north to Monticello.
She said residents from the surrounding community already rely on Bluff for safe drinking water, senior lunches and youth programs. The town of around 250 residents serves a wider community of around 5,000 people.
In addition to Solar for All funds evaporating, Bluff officials also recently learned they’re losing a $1 million environmental justice grant from EPA they planned to use to upgrade the center’s heating, cooling, plumbing and fire suppression.
“This was devastating to this project,” Leppanen said.
In posts to social media announcing the end of Solar for All, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claimed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, removed the agency’s ability to deploy the program.
He called Solar for All a “boondoggle” and a “grift” with multiple pass throughs and middlemen skimming money from the grants.
“The Trump EPA is proudly committed to fully following the law,” Zeldin said, “and being a great steward of your taxpayer dollars.”
Eden, however, noted that under the Utah program, subrecipients of Solar for All Funds included Utah Clean Energy, the University of Utah and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. They had statutory limits on how much they could charge for administering the grants.
“In no cases were subrecipients allowed to profit on this program,” she said.
The federal government’s $62 million investment would have likely saved Utahns $60 million in energy costs over 20 years, “if not more,” Eden added. It would have also built a local workforce trained in solar installations.
Groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center have indicated they plan to sue EPA over the decision.
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