The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the allocation of $53.6 million in Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers (SERC) grants to fourteen state and territorial weatherization offices. This initiative is part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, aiming to provide low-income households with energy-saving measures and materials not traditionally included in DOE’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP).
Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, these projects will include expanded retrofits of low-income residential buildings using technologies such as solar photovoltaic panels, cold climate air source heat pumps, and triple-pane windows. The goal is to reduce the energy burden on low-income families while supporting clean energy jobs.
“As the nation wrestles with extreme weather intensified by climate change, the Biden-Harris Administration is ensuring that Americans in every pocket of the country, regardless of income, have access to the clean energy tools that make their homes more resilient and efficient,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “We are infusing new technology and flexibility into the Department’s long-standing Weatherization Assistance Program, investing in more low-income households and creating more clean energy jobs.”
Since its inception in 1976, WAP has served seven million households, helping them save an average of 30% on their energy bills. The SERC grants are part of a broader government-wide approach to maximize the benefits of the clean energy transition. These investments align with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims for 40% of certain federal climate and clean energy benefits to flow to disadvantaged communities.
The selected grantees are:
- Delaware: $1,500,000 for “Decarbonization of low-income communities via electrification in Delaware.”
- Georgia: $7,500,000 for “Optimized Climate Control in Humid Regions.”
- Indiana: $2,000,000 for “Indiana Housing & Community Development Authority WAP SERC Application.”
- Kentucky: $3,222,300 for “Kentucky SERC Project 2024.”
- Massachusetts: $1,300,000 for “Smartflower Ground-Mounted Community Solar and 1-4 Unit Solar Installations.”
- Michigan: $900,000 for “SERC Application – Michigan Department of Health and Human Services- Bureau of Community Action and Economic Opportunity and Washtenaw Office of Community and Economic Development.”
- New Jersey: $1,000,000 for “Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers.”
- New Mexico: $2,000,000 for “SERC Measures for Northern New Mexico.”
- New York: $25,136,550 for “New York State - Housing and Community Renewal BIL SERC Subgrantee Applications.”
- Ohio: $4,301,375 for “Solar for Ohio's Appalachian Region (SOAR) and Toledo Green & Healthy Homes Program.”
- Pennsylvania: $500,000 for “Lawrence County Social Services Inc., Sustainable Energy Resources for Consumers (SERC) Grant Application.”
- Tennessee: $1,500,000 for “Solar Photovoltaic Energy Reduction Initiative.”
- Utah: $1,307,271 for “Increasing Energy Efficiency and Reaching Electrification.”
- U.S. Virgin Islands: $1,500;0000for "Virgin Islands Energy Office SERC BIL."
DOE has previously awarded two rounds of SERC funding totaling $20.8 million to fifteen grantees.
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