Sober living center is first Nevada facility to get rooftop solar under legacy Biden program

State received nation’s highest per-capita ‘Solar for All’ allocation

By Jeniffer Solis

Nevada Current

A new sober living facility in Reno was selected as one of the first in the nation to receive federal funding for rooftop solar development under a Biden-era program that was nearly canceled by the Trump administration earlier this year.

The Empowerment Center — a nonprofit offering affordable housing for low income and at-risk women recovering from substance abuse — will receive more than $960,000 in “Solar for All” funding to install solar at their newly constructed multi-unit housing property.

Last year, Nevada was awarded a $156 million “Solar for All” grant by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to support rooftop or community solar projects that benefit low-income households.

Nevada was one of several states cut off from the funding after President Donald Trump called for the immediate halt of energy grants, loans, and contracts funded through the Inflation Reduction Act passed under former president Joe Biden.

The Solar for All program was the only grant under the $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to survive the cull. In March EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the cancellation of the fund’s other two federal grants, eliminating $20 billion in renewable energy investment.

With the survival of the program, the Nevada Clean Energy Fund — a nonprofit bank that administers the “Solar for All” funds — selected the sober living facility as the first project to get the green-light.

“This first-of-its-kind project demonstrates how clean energy can help uplift people working hard to restore their lives,” said Kirsten Stasio, the CEO of the Nevada Clean Energy Fund.

Roxanne DeCarlo, the executive director of The Empowerment Center, said the solar installation will be vital to reducing utility costs and helping free up funds for addiction treatment, case management, and support staff.

“When individuals arrive at our program, they are unemployed, homeless, or were recently incarcerated, so we’re really working with individuals that have a very low income. It’s really important that we keep our operations cost as low as possible,” DeCarlo said.

Solar has already proven to be a significant cost-saving measure at the nonprofit’s two other affordable housing facilities, said DeCarlo. The organization hopes to power nearly all of the new building’s electricity needs with solar energy.

Nevada received the highest “Solar for All” funding per capita of any state. In fact, Nevada received the same award amount as Florida, Illinois, and Pennsylvania — states with significantly higher populations.

With robust funding, Nevada’s “Solar for All” program was expected to boost development of rooftop and community solar for low-income households that don’t have access to solar energy due to high upfront installation costs.

But the future of the program has also grown increasingly uncertain after Trump signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law, cutting the 30 percent Clean Electricity Investment Credit for solar projects that start construction after July 4, 2026 — phasing it out six years ahead of schedule. Projects will also need to be in service by the end of 2027 to receive the full credit.

For residential solar, the 30 percent credit ends entirely at the end of 2025.

Greg Zegas, the managing director of investments at the Nevada Clean Energy Fund, said the early termination of tax credits pressures solar project developers to start construction before the end of the year. The deadline particularly impacts working families who rely on the tax credit to make solar affordable as electricity prices continue to climb.

“That’s a tax credit that is really beneficial for clean energy projects like solar,” Zegas said. “It basically means that any project that’s starting construction after 2025 is going to face additional hurdles for claiming the full value of the tax credit.”

In order to fill the funding gap left by the dissolution of those credits, the Nevada Clean Energy Fund may need to cover more solar installation costs in the state while funding less projects.

“If we’re putting more money out towards grants, then it would reduce the amount of funding that we have for projects,” Zegas said.

Despite a tight deadline and other challenges, Zegas said the Nevada Clean Energy Fund is optimistic they can get the $156 million allocated to Nevada “out the door to benefit households across the state.”

In the next few weeks, the Nevada Clean Energy Fund plans to finalize funding for several other “Solar for All” projects, said Zegas.

Those solar projects will benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities who rely on multifamily affordable housing projects, similar to the residents at The Empowerment Center.

Community solar projects can be hosted by local governments, schools, businesses, or nonprofit that have a building, carport, or other land where solar can be placed.

“This program is really focused on benefiting low-income communities. Those populations face the highest utility bill burden proportionate to their income. That’s our goal with these projects, to reduce those energy costs and share those savings for households,” Zegas said.

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Jeniffer Solis was born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended the University of Nevada, Las Vegas before graduating in 2017 with a B.A in Journalism and Media Studies.