PROVIDENCE – The nonprofit Capital Good Fund and a state agency are among 60 recipients sharing $7 billion in federal grants announced Monday for solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities.
The Capital Good Fund, which offers loans to low- and moderate-income families, received $156 million as the lead applicant for the Georgia BRIGHT Communities initiative. Separately, the R.I. Office of Energy Resources received $49.3 million to address equity barriers to solar adoption for low-income households and underserved communities.
The grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which announced the recipients. The projects are expected to eventually reduce emissions by the equivalent of 30 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and save households $350 million annually, according to senior administration officials.
“This funding will allow us and our partners to dramatically expand the impact of our existing Georgia BRIGHT program and bring the benefits of solar to approximately 20,000 households over five years while creating good-paying jobs, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving local air quality,” said Andy Posner, CEO and founder of the Providence-based Capital Good Fund. “We are grateful to the Biden administration for their commitment to environmental justice and recognition that tackling the climate crisis is an opportunity to reshape our nation.”
The EPA in a news release said the Rhode Island funding will be used “for the launch and expansion of a comprehensive suite of seven financial assistance programs and 12 project deployment technical assistance initiatives, which are designed to equitably address barriers to solar adoption in Rhode Island’s low-income and disadvantaged communities.
“All financial assistance programs are tailored to defray specific and longstanding financial barriers to solar adoption while addressing the needs of low-income renters and homeowners,” the EPA said.
Posner added Monday that the organization has no plans to move its headquarters out of Rhode Island. The nonprofit will use the new funding to increase its workforce from 40 people to about 70 over five years, most of which will be in Georgia and increase its overall capacity to effectively deliver more services to Rhode Island.
(UPDATED throughout to ADD state funding, nonprofit comment. Material from The Associated Press was used in this story.)
