Financing Clean Energy Access among Low-income Households in Nevada
Pamella Eunice Ahairwe, MA International Policy (Economic Development) '24
Community Engagement Fellow, Nevada Clean Energy Fund (NCEF)
This summer, I was privileged to work as a Stanford Shultz Fellow at the Nevada Clean Energy Fund (NCEF). NCEF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, created in 2017 by the state legislation to serve as Nevada's green bank and address clean energy market gaps and financial barriers among historically underserved communities. NCEF's mission is to support a thriving, affordable, and accessible clean energy economy by providing financial and technical resources to low-income and disadvantaged Nevadans. In April 2024, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the authorization of Inflation Reduction Act awarded NCEF $156 million, a grant that is an essential piece to achieving clean energy implementation in underserved communities.
My Shultz Fellowship allowed me to provide support on how NCEF can employ the $156 million grant to establish the Nevada Solar for All (NSFA) under multiple approaches: the single-family household, the multi-family affordable housing, and the residential-serving community solar programs. Each approach involves variations that allow for third party-ownership of solar systems, which reduces the site host’s ongoing obligations. Broadly, NSFA will allow NCEF to catalyze about 47 MW of solar capacity implementation, benefiting over 20,000 households in Nevada. Ultimately, the NSFA NCEF program will yield various health, environmental, and economic benefits including reducing absolute carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 1.2 million short tons and other air pollutants (particulate matter, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and ammonia) by approximately 2.4 million lbs over the 20-year solar project lifetime. NCEF programs also aim to create 900 solar jobs and reduce annual energy cost disparities by $303 per household.
As a Shultz Fellow, I worked at NCEF at a critical time of growth. The NCEF team tripled in size during my 10 weeks fellowship. This timing allowed me an opportunity to contribute to workstreams’ projects that will have a lasting impact on the organization. I took on a series of projects including designing the residential-serving community solar investment plan, where I assessed funding structures, eligibility, partners, project pipelines, performance risks, investment terms, and private capital leverage. Additionally, I led the development of program guidance documents that will facilitate the implementation of the NCEF Solar for All programs. I also actively contributed to the establishment of NCEF’s five NSFA Community Councils: the Persistent Poverty Communities, Labor, Local Government and Schools, and Affordable Housing Councils and the Tribal Advisory Board (see Figure below). NCEF will effectively engage with these councils to ensure its investments are community-owned, community-led, and can meet the critical energy needs of Nevadan communities.
As an economist, my NCEF experience taught me the practical importance of a community-led, bottoms-up approach in developing economic policies that can tackle challenges faced by the last mile. NCEF’s integrated approach of ensuring that its investment interventions in the form of rebates, loans and grants do not disrupt other federal income qualified programs has also taught me that economic development polices work best when complementary and achieving this requires a thorough understanding of the other policy and regulatory frameworks.
It has been an incredible experience to be part of NCEF team and to have first-hand experience with program designs, investment planning, and community engagement on project interventions. I am excited about the future where NCEF continues to boost access to clean energy, one of the most critical needs of our time.
