HOUSTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a $156 million grant to a joint initiative between Texas Southern University’s Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice and the Clean Energy Fund of Texas. This initiative is designed to provide community solar and energy resiliency infrastructure to low-income communities in southern and southeastern states.
The grant, through the EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund’s “Solar for All” program, is one of the largest awarded of its kind.
“This funding will change the course of solar energy and equity across Texas and the South,” said Dr. Robert D. Bullard, Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy and Director of the Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice at Texas Southern University. “Southern states bear a disproportionate burden of high energy costs and climate pollution and now – with this funding – we can turn the tide.”
The Bullard Center, in partnership with the Clean Energy Fund of Texas, will facilitate the development of residential-serving community solar projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities on the front lines of energy policy and grid vulnerability challenges. Projects will drive expected emissions reductions, household utility bill savings, generate direct shared revenues through community ownership, and mobilize private capital.
The proposal targets the deployment of solar and battery resources anchored at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Tribal College and Universities.
“We are grateful to the EPA for selecting this multifaceted project as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Solar for All program,” said Billy Briscoe, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer for the Clean Energy Fund of Texas. “This partnership with minority-serving institutions of higher education will lower energy burden for low-income communities, jumpstart the green economy with the creation of jobs through workforce training programs, and provide energy resiliency after a climate event.”
The program will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of wealth creation in the affected communities and of private capital mobilization.
“Texas Southern University is proud to be at the forefront of advancing this critically important work of environmental and climate justice with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s support,” said interim president Dr. Mary Evans Sias. “This is another example of the Bullard Center’s continued leadership in finding solutions for often-overlooked issues. We look forward to the tangible difference that will be made in underserved communities, and the economic opportunities that will be created as a result.”
The project will be based in Texas and operate in 19 states across the south and southeast.
By: Texas Southern University
