Solar for None: Indigenized Energy hit hard by Solar for All cancellation
Tribal coalition loses $135M Solar for All initiative, eliminating clean energy jobs in Indian Country
The EPA’s decision to terminate $7 billion in Solar for All grants is hitting tribal communities especially hard. Indigenized Energy, part of a coalition of 14 tribes that had been awarded funds through the program, confirmed it has already made staff cuts and lost its chance to participate in a $135 million initiative.
The nonprofit was preparing to help deliver residential solar to Indigenous households across the Northern Plains through the Tribal Renewable Energy Coalition (TREC). Instead, the cancellation has erased jobs and delayed projects that promised both bill savings and career opportunities in Indian Country.
A broken promise for tribal communities
Solar for All grants, created under the Inflation Reduction Act, were intended to bring rooftop solar to 900,000 lower-income households nationwide. For TREC, that meant expanding access to affordable electricity and creating skilled career pathways for Native workers.
“This isn’t just about numbers on a spreadsheet,” said Cody Two Bears, founder and CEO of Indigenized Energy. “It’s about families who can’t afford their electricity bills, skilled workers in Indian Country who just lost their livelihoods, and a planet that desperately needs us to heal it. The true cost will be felt in homes, on our lands, and across our shared future.”
Wider fallout across the country
Indigenized Energy stresses that the consequences go beyond one coalition. Other recipients and clean energy partners nationwide are also facing layoffs, reduced budgets, and stalled projects. For the communities targeted by Solar for All, the program was more than infrastructure — it was, as the group described, “a promise of energy independence, environmental stewardship, and economic resilience.”
That promise, they say, has now been broken.
Call to action
Indigenized Energy is urging policymakers, philanthropic groups, and the public to support tribal nations and other affected communities as legal and political battles over Solar for All continue.
“Indigenized Energy remains committed to building a future where Native communities lead the way in clean energy, where culture and land are honored, and where no family has to choose between paying the light bill or putting food on the table,” the group said in its statement.
