Another day, another attack on renewable energy by the Trump administration.
As a couple of Republican senators protest the President’s plan to go even further than the budget reconciliation bill to gut incentives for clean energy development, the feds have shifted their sights to federal grants intended to boost the community solar industry and help low and moderate-income families install panels on their homes.
According to The New York Times, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is drafting termination letters to the 60 nonprofit groups and state agencies that received the grants under the “Solar for All” program. If the Trump administration is successful, the move will claw back $7 billion in promised federal funding.
The Times cites a pair of connected sources who spoke under the condition of anonymity. Those sources expect the EPA’s letters to be in the mail by the end of this week.
Since Trump retook the Oval Office, the EPA has tried to cancel $20 billion out of the $27 billion in climate grants authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the landmark infrastructure legislation championed by President Joe Biden. This summer’s budget reconciliation bill neuters tax credit incentives for developers and manufacturers in the wind and solar industries included in the IRA, and in recent weeks, the Trump administration has continued to find ways to ensure no new electrons generated by those technologies come from federal lands.
The Solar Industry Reacts
Jamie Henn, spokesperson for the Sun Day campaign, was among the first solar advocates to issue a statement on the potential revocation of Solar for All funding.
“The Trump Administration is punishing American families just to give another handout to Big Oil. Building more rooftop solar is the fastest and cheapest way we can reduce energy bills while combating climate change. That’s why we’re seeing such a growing movement around clean energy despite this administration’s attempts to squash it,” Henn said.
“This $7 billion program was about putting power into the hands of working families. Canceling it means higher bills, more pollution, and fewer options for the people who need relief the most. It’s a cruel move that runs counter to what people actually support. Americans overwhelmingly back clean energy, and if anything, this kind of political maneuver is only pushing more momentum toward a mass movement like Sun Day.”
Sun Day is a national day of action on September 21, 2025, intended to celebrate the promise of clean energy and demand large-scale deployment of solar, wind, and battery storage technologies in the U.S.
This is a developing story. Additional information and reaction will be added to this article as it becomes available.
