The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday launched two competitive grant programs with $20 billion in funding that aim to spark clean energy investments across the country especially in low-income communities.
The programs, part of the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established by President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) last year, are the latest move by his administration to support projects that reduce planet warming emissions.
The $14 billion National Clean Investment Fund will provide grants to two or three national clean financial institutions, enabling them to partner with the private sector to provide financing to tens of thousands of clean technology projects nationwide, the White House said.
"Students, small business owners and community leaders with
innovative ideas to reduce our emissions and accelerate our clean energy transition will now see their projects become reality, all while creating ... a clean energy economy that works for all," Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement.
A $6 billion Clean Communities Investment Accelerator competition will provide grants to support up to seven nonprofit groups that will deliver funding and technical assistance to build the clean financing capacity of local lenders working in lower income and disadvantaged communities.
The $27 billion fund was proposed as a way to scale up the model of more than 20 green banks in states including Michigan and Maryland that invest in programs such as residential solar and installation of efficient heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers.
The non-profit green banks help reduce risk of projects in lower-income communities by providing a financial backstop and help attract private sector investment.
Michael Regan, the EPA administrator, said Biden's fund will spur private investment into clean technology and "expand economic opportunity for communities that have been left
behind".
Not everyone supports the green bank, which stemmed from the IRA legislation's $369 billion in incentives for fighting climate change that no Republicans voted for.
U.S. Representative Gary Palmer, who has launched legislation to repeal the fund, has said that more than 20 million Americans are struggling with utility bills and "are not begging for more electric vehicles or solar panels, they are asking for their energy bills to be more affordable."
In June, the administration launched a $7 billion grant program to give low-income communities access to residential solar panels.
The deadline for applying to the programs launched on Friday is Oct. 12.
