WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is making available $20 billion from a federal “green bank” for clean energy projects such as residential heat pumps, electric vehicle charging stations and community cooling centers.
Two programs, worth $14 billion and $6 billion, respectively, will offer competitive grants to states, tribes and nonprofits to invest in clean energy projects, with a focus on disadvantaged communities, the White House says.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan and other officials will announce the grant competitions Friday at a historically black university in Baltimore.
Congress created the green bank, formally known as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, in last year’s climate law. The grant competitions follow a $7 billion Solar for All program launched last month for residential and community solar projects in low-income communities. All three programs will be overseen by the green bank, with grant awards expected next year.
Regan, whose agency oversees the green bank, called the grant programs a way to “tackle the climate crisis and reshape the economy” at the same time. The three programs will offer “transformational resources” for many disadvantaged communities that often are passed over by commercial banks and investors, he said.
“These communities have been left behind in this transition, and it’s going to be a strong signal to the market for us to pull private capital off the sidelines” in urban and neglected areas, Regan told The Associated Press in an interview.
The $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund will provide grants to up to three national clean financing institutions, enabling them to partner with states and the private sector to provide affordable financing for tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide, the EPA said.
The $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, meanwhile, will provide grants for up to seven nonprofits that will…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply