U.S. solar power has only grown since President Obama took office. A fact sheet from The White House notes that during the last 8 years solar electricity generation has increased 30 fold and solar jobs are growing 12 times faster than the rest of the economy. System costs have been cut by more than 70%.
Now, the Obama Administration is announcing a new cross government partnership–the Clean Energy Savings For All Initiative–between the Departments of Energy (DOE), Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Agriculture (USDA), Health and Human Services (HHS), Veteran’s Affairs (VA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to increase access to solar energy and promote energy efficiency across the United States and, in particular in low- and moderate- income communities.
Through the Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative, the Administration will work to ensure that every household has options to choose to go solar and put in place additional measures to promote energy efficiency, according to the fact sheet. To continue along this track, the Administration, in collaboration with state agencies, is announcing a new catalytic goal to bring 1 gigawatt (GW) of solar to low- and moderate- income families by 2020.
This goal is a 10-fold increase and an expansion of the initial target President Obama set in his Climate Action Plan to install 100 MW of renewable energy on federally-assisted affordable housing by 2020. The Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative will help achieve the goal by promoting innovative financing mechanisms, bolstering technical assistance for states and communities, driving innovation, scaling up workforce training to make sure low- and moderate-income Americans can take advantage of the jobs that come with a transition to clean energy, convening stakeholders, and working with the private and philanthropic sectors.
A major point of the announcement is that mortgage insurance for property-assessed clean energy (PACE) financing will now be issued by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Veterans Administration (VA), rather than through the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association (Freddie Mac), which have encountered obstacles to PACE loans.
“Cutting through the alphabet soup of federal agencies, the bottom line is that more Americans will now be able to choose solar, and private industry can seize the opportunity to build more solar systems,” said Tom Kimbis Vice President of Executive Affairs at SEIA in a blog. “One of the greatest parts about the PACE plan is that it leverages the flexibilities of the executive branch in ways that are seldom seen in Washington stovepipes. The initiative cuts red tape with the result that roughly 200,000 homes could choose to lower their electricity bills through solar over the next four years. SEIA applauds the President for taking these measures, which mirror the solar industry’s commitment to expand solar access to everyone, regardless of their income or where they live.”
“We’re making it easier for American homeowners to take advantage of solar with a new program called PACE,” Obama said in a White House video (below). “You can now install solar panels or retrofit your home to make it more energy efficient at no upfront cost, all by paying for them through the future savings on your energy bills. You can help American lead the world in the fight against climate change and and for a cleaner, safer planet for our kids.”