Jason Meyer sets up solar power at his campsite at Canyon Moon Ranch for the upcoming music festival, Country Thunder 2025 on April 9, 2025, in Florence, Ariz. Festivalgoers arrive early to set up for the festival, which begins the following day.
California – California’s long-delayed community solar rollout is now facing an existential threat from the Trump administration, which is reportedly preparing to cancel the federal Solar for All program. The state was awarded $250 million through the program in April 2024 but has distributed almost none of the funds. If terminated, the move could collapse California’s most promising effort to extend solar access to renters and low-income households—residents who cannot install rooftop panels of their own.
The Solar for All initiative, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act, aimed to jumpstart community solar nationwide. In California, the vision was to let consumers tap into power from mid-sized solar projects in their area, democratizing access to renewable energy. But after more than a year of bureaucratic wrangling, that vision remains mostly theoretical.
Advocates say the biggest obstacle has not been federal inaction but state gridlock. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), tasked with managing the funds, has been slow to create a viable incentive structure. Though the CPUC finalized a tariff structure in May 2024, it included minimal financial support, which developers warned would not attract investment. A new round of feedback and advisory filings requested by the CPUC in April 2025 only added further delays.
“The PUC’s slow-walking of this process has likely squandered $250 million in federal support,” said Matthew Freedman, a staff attorney with The Utility Reform Network. “As of today, we have no program, no development, federal tax credits that are about to sunset, and now an announcement that Solar for All funding is going to be pulled by the Trump administration.”
According to data from Atlas Public Policy, California has spent just $100,641 of its $250 million grant. By comparison, Illinois has already disbursed $11 million of its $156 million award. California has only 217 megawatts of community solar installed or in development—far behind Florida’s 3,873 MW and New York’s 2,110 MW.
State officials have yet to say whether they will legally challenge the Trump administration’s looming rollback. Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office declined to comment on any potential litigation strategy.
The CPUC insists that implementation is underway under an EPA-approved plan. Still, a bill that would have restructured the state’s program and hastened its rollout failed in the Assembly this May.
With federal support set to vanish, California’s opportunity to lead on equitable solar access may be slipping away.
