Vermont begins planning to spend $62.5 million in federal Solar for All funds; rollout split across three programs

Montpelier — Vermont has an award of $62,450,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All program and is using a one-year planning window to design and launch three subprograms that together aim to bring subsidized rooftop and community solar to low-income and disadvantaged households.

Ethan Inch, climate policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee that Solar for All is part of a broader federal initiative and said the money has been committed to Vermont but not fully drawn down. "There is a legal contractual obligation ... but the money is physically in the U.S. Treasury," Inch said.

The Vermont Department of Public Service’s State Energy Office, led by Director Melissa Bailey, is the lead state implementer. Bailey told the committee the department applied for $100 million and received a $62.45 million award, the largest per-capita Solar for All award among states. She said the award is a five-year, reimbursement-style grant and the department has begun monthly draws for staffing costs (she said the program has drawn under $100,000 so far).

Why it matters: Solar for All was created under the Inflation Reduction Act and sits inside the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The program’s stated federal objective is to concentrate solar deployment and associated bill savings in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Vermont officials said the state’s program must meet EPA rules — including Buy America, Davis-Bacon, NEPA and a minimum 20% reduction in participants’ utility bills — and must report to the agency on outcomes and quality assurance.

Program design and scale: Bailey described three subprograms the state plans to run under the grant: - A managed affordable solar housing (MASH) subgrant, led by the Vermont Housing Finance Agency (VHFA), for multifamily and affordable-housing projects; Bailey said roughly $22 million is expected to go to VHFA and that the state estimates the MASH track could reach about 3,000 households. - A single‑family rooftop program (described…