An array of solar panels

Gary's plans for solar installations come to an end

Contributed By: The 411 News

The end has come for projects in Gary that would have put solar farms on vacant school sites and installed solar panels on the rooftops of low-income residents.

FAITH CDC and the City of Gary, as well as others nationwide who had received grants from the U.S. EPA’s Solar For All program in 2024, learned that the funds were no longer available when the EPA sent out termination letters on August 7th.

The EPA’s action resulted from the reductions in government spending authored by House and Senate Republicans in their One Big Beautiful Bill that President Trump signed on July 4th.

Within days of taking office in January, Trump issued an executive order freezing all federal financial assistance and grants. The EPA immediately froze the Solar For All program; in March the agency unfroze the funds.

The $7 billion in SFA funds were awarded to 60 recipients (including states, municipalities, non-profit organizations, and federally recognized tribes) following a grant competition in 2024.

Gary’s two projects had received a combined total of $34 million as sub-recipients of a $117.4 million competitive grant awarded to 5 Indiana communities submitted by the Indiana Community Action Association (IN-CAA).

Gary was joined by the cities of Fort Wayne and Indianapolis and two Indiana nonprofits, Energy Matters from Columbus and Black Sun Light Sustainability in the Solar Opportunities Indiana program.

Alison Becker, the IN-CAA Program Director spoke to Kevin Cobb, FAITH CDC’s solar representative on WLTH Radio Monday morning.

Cobb called the EPA’s action illegal. “The program passed the House, passed the Senate; signed by then President Biden. We were awarded the grant based on our qualifications. We signed a contract with the EPA at the beginning of January.”

On January 11, before the inauguration of President Trump, Pastor Curtis Whittaker of FAITH CDC and Brenda Scott-Henry, Director of the City of Gary’s Office of Sustainability and Environmental Affairs had hosted “Family Solar Discovery Day” at the Gary Public Library as a preview of their solar projects.

Becker said IN-CAA wouldn’t pursue legal action. “IN-CAA has a lot of different programs. The board decided pursuing legal action for this particular program wasn’t in the best interest of all of their individual programs. When you’re managing competing priorities, you have to think about all of them, not just one.”

Cobb said it makes sense. “Any legal action would be expensive; it could take years. Certainly our nonprofit is not made of money.”

FAITH CDC, the community development arm of Progressive Community Church, had proposed that it and the city acquire 2-3 abandoned school properties; and build solar farms, which could provide backup power to critical buildings in case of a natural disaster or power outage.

A solar farm at the Emerson school site would provide backup electrical power to 5 priority buildings –city hall, fire and police headquarters, Methodist Hospital, and the Hudson Campbell Fitness Center.

The solar grants were structured for 5 years. This first year, the projects underwent feasibility studies. In order to get funding for the next year, project milestones had to be met.

The City of Gary had proposed installing solar panels on 300 single family or multi-family homes. Their proposal included building solar arrays with battery storage on unused industrial and commercial properties identified as brownfields.

Story Posted:08/19/2025