Overview
- U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy ruled Monday, Sept. 21, 2026, that the EPA unlawfully canceled Solar for All and vacated the agency’s termination order, giving plaintiffs full summary judgment.
- Solar for All was created under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund as a $7 billion competitive grant program to expand low-income residential solar and paired storage nationwide.
- Program rules require recipients to use 80–85% of awards for direct financial help and to guarantee at least a 20% net electricity bill cut for participating low-income households.
- The Trump administration ordered the program ended in August 2025 and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin criticized the awards, but plaintiffs including environmental groups, labor unions and homeowners sued in October 2025 and won in Rhode Island.
- Only about $53 million had been disbursed before the freeze, so the ruling clears the way to restart grant work but practical steps by EPA and grantees will be needed to release and deploy the remaining funds.