With more than 300 days of sunshine every year, Nevada has long touted its potential as a source of clean, renewable solar energy.
However, in early August, the federal government moved to claw back roughly $150 million from the Nevada Clean Energy Fund. It’s the state’s so-called “green bank,” which helps facilitate financing for residential and other small-scale clean energy projects across the state.
The money was part of a larger $7 billion grant from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden Administration—the Trump administration’s strategy has been to shift away from cleaner energy back toward more fossil fuels.
The program aimed to provide more than 900,000 lower-income U.S. households with access to solar energy through the development of private rooftop solar or community solar.
The cuts also come at the same time Congress voted to end the 30 percent tax credits homeowners could use to help offset the costs of installing solar panels on their homes.
It’s a set of moves that will likely have profound impacts on the state’s solar industry and its roughly 8,500 workers.
Guests: Kirsten Stasio, ceo, Nevada Clean Energy Fund; Erick Haskell, co-founder, Sagebrush Energy; Riley Cate, co-founder, Sagebrush Energy
