Summary
Donald Trump has paused billions in federal clean energy grants, jeopardizing solar projects in Republican-led states like Indiana.
The $7bn Solar for All program, aimed at reducing electricity costs for low-income families, was expected to fund major initiatives, including $117m for Indiana.
Despite bipartisan support for solar, Trump dismissed Biden’s policies as the “Green New Scam.” A federal judge has ordered a temporary unfreezing of funds, but uncertainty remains.
Advocates warn that prolonged legal battles could delay projects for years, threatening investments and energy savings.
I don’t recall the exact timeline, but about 10 - 15 years ago my neighbor got a bunch of solar panels installed. Between state and federal funding, almost 2/3rds of the cost was subsidized. On top of that, the local power company pays 1-to-1 for the energy she produces during the day because she is grandfathered in. Her power bill maxes out at something like $30.
I was strongly considering getting solar panels for my house in recent history. The power company no longer pays 1-to-1 for new installations, they only pay approximately 30%. So if they charge 18 cents per kilowatt hour, they’d only credit me 6 cents. On top of this, the state I live in no longer offers tax incentives, so the only thing I had going for me was the federal incentives. Even at that, it wasn’t worth it from a purely economic standpoint when I did the calculations.
The icing on the cake is that when the power goes out, you still lose power even if you have solar panels. The only way around that in my part of the world is to go completely off grid, buy a bunch of extremely expensive equipment and batteries, or to have someone do an illegal connection.
So, we came to conclusion that solar wasn’t really affordable for us. The monthly payments on the loan were going to be about 20% higher than our current electric bill and by our calculations, it was going to take about 17 - 20 years to break even. And that’s only if the equipment lasts that long, which is a gamble given our weather that includes hurricanes, tornadoes, and so on.
Solar is definitely not a panacea. Near as I can tell, no ‘green’ alternative is - they really depend on making use of local conditions and resources in ways that are not compatible with late-stage production-line capitalism.
In my area (US southeast), between weather and tilt-of-earth, the solar models predict about half as much annual energy as an identical installation in California or Arizona. Tack on that our electric rate is also about half California, and rooftop solar is a pretty iffy proposal.
Wind might be better here, if there were any residential/suburban options. Hydro, if you happen to live on a stream. Basically, the useful local resources all require massive scale to utilize, and nobody wants to do that when gas is cheap.
For sure! I’d love to switch to solar (or any alternative carbon-friendly / carbon-neutral energy source) entirely and specifically for the perceived environmental benefits. But I’m also not in a financial position where I can do it when it happens to cost so much more than traditional means. If I had been fortunate enough, like my neighbor, to have been in the position to make the plunge 10 - 15 years ago, it would make perfect sense. But with all the government subsidies being cut, the power company drastically reducing what they pay for the excess energy, and the cost of batteries plus associated equipment being so high, it’s pushing solar back into the territory of being unaffordable for a lot of people. Really sad in so many ways. And yet, I’m still trying to figure out how I might make it work.