“Solar for All” grant will help Colorado meet climate goals and expand access to solar energy for Coloradans, cutting residential energy bills 

DENVER - Today, Governor Polis and the Colorado Energy Office announced that Colorado will receive a $156 million award from the Environmental Protection Agency through its “Solar for All” competition. The award, which is part of the Inflation Reduction Act Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, will support rooftop solar installations and community solar programs for single-family and multifamily housing in low- and moderate-income Colorado communities. This funding will help accelerate widespread adoption of rooftop solar in Colorado, moving Colorado closer to the goal of 100% clean energy by 2040 while improving air quality, lowering energy bills, and increasing energy independence. 

“It’s exciting to receive this major funding to help more Coloradans save money with solar energy while creating a cleaner environment for future generations. This award will help rapidly deploy more low-cost solar energy across Colorado. I want to thank the Biden Administration for this investment in Colorado,” said Governor Jared Polis.

Colorado’s proposal included single-family rooftop solar, multifamily rooftop solar, and community solar, balancing serving the highest energy burdened Coloradans, maximizing cost savings and emissions reductions, and accelerating the market transformation potential of such a large scale program. The application was prepared with input from stakeholders, including affordable housing advocates, nonprofits, financial institutions, local government, solar industry experts and interested parties in Colorado.

“We are grateful to the EPA for this funding, which will broaden access to solar power across the state,” said Colorado Energy Office (CEO) Executive Director Will Toor. “Expanding access to rooftop and community solar energy will not only help us achieve our clean energy goals, but will also lower energy bills, and  expand the use of solar energy for a wide variety of energy needs.”

The “Solar for All” grant will complement other residential solar programs currently available in Colorado, such as:

- CEO’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which provides no-cost home energy improvements, including rooftop solar for qualified homes, to income-qualified Coloradans.

- Colorado’s Residential Energy Upgrade loan (RENU) program, which offers low, fixed interest rate loans through the Colorado Clean Energy Fund for home energy improvements up to $75,000, with repayment terms up to 20 years.

The state has also developed a model solar ready and electric ready building energy code that local governments must adopt when they update any other building code after July 1, 2023. This code requires that new homes and buildings be built and pre-wired to accommodate future solar panels, which minimizes the cost of installing rooftop solar at a later date