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The announcement kicks off a week of activities aimed at touting
the Biden administration's record on climate change.
Biden will reveal the funding during a trip to Prince William
Forest Park in Triangle, Virginia, where he will also announce
that applications are open to join the American Climate Corps, a
program to prepare young people for jobs in climate-related
industries.
Young voters, who tend to be more concerned about climate
change, are a key constituency for Biden, a Democrat, as he
prepares to face former President Donald Trump, a Republican, in
the November presidential election.
The $7 billion of solar funding through the Environmental
Protection Agency's Solar for All grant competition was included
in Biden's landmark climate change law, the Inflation Reduction
Act. It will create 200,000 jobs and save households in the
program about $400 a year, according to the White House.
Grant recipients include 60 state and local agencies and
non-profits with programs to help residents in poor communities
go solar and save on their power bills. The winners include
several organizations with plans to provide solar to native
American households in states including Alaska, Arizona, New
Mexico and Colorado.
Residential solar has long been regarded as difficult to access
for lower-income Americans because of its high upfront cost and
because less affluent people tend to rent their homes or live in
apartment buildings.
The program is aligned with Biden's goal to direct 40% of
federal clean energy investment benefits to disadvantaged
communities.
"We're opening up a market where everybody, no matter their zip
code or their economic background can tap into the savings
opportunity that clean energy represents," a senior
administration official said on a call with reporters on Friday.
Biden will also announce that his American Climate Corps will
launch a web site, ClimateCorps.gov, where applicants will be
able to see 2,000 open positions in 36 states, Washington D.C.
and Puerto Rico.
The program's first class will start in June.
The Climate Corps aims to put more than 20,000 young people to
work by training them, for example, to install solar panels,
operate LiDAR cameras that detect methane emissions and restore
mangrove ecosystems, the White House said.
(Reporting by Nichola Groom; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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