With its new $200 million investment, Brookfield has now put a total of $600 million into PosiGen’s finance model since 2023. PosiGen’s daily operations are supported by venture and equity investors including Magnetar Capital, Emerson Collective, Irradiant Partners, Activate Capital, The Builders Fund, and SJF Ventures. The Kresge Foundation has also invested in PosiGen, and GAF Energy, a solar-powered roof shingle supplier, has provided tax equity capacity to the company.
Can low-income solar survive a Trump rollback?
How much will the Trump administration slow or halt President Biden’s billion-dollar renewable-energy incentive programs? That’s the existential question being asked in every clean power sector supported by current energy policy.
In PosiGen’s case, its business model depends on the federal investment tax credit for residential rooftop solar, as well as additional federal incentives or “adders” for use of solar panels made with domestic content or deployment in places with vulnerable energy workforces or low-income communities.
Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress could reduce or phase out the residential-solar investment tax credit, and it could roll back the adders, which were put in place by the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Existing PosiGen customers have nothing to worry about,” said Healey. “Their prices are locked in.” But it could be game over for PosiGen’s future expansion in “specific markets” if federal policy is changed, Healey said.
“If I can take the low-income or the energy-community adder, we can support a [partner] company in West Virginia,” said Healey. “Without the energy-community adder, nobody else is doing [third-party-ownership rooftop solar] in West Virginia.”
“What is likely to happen is that it would force a change in our pricing that would limit the market that we can serve. We would only be serving those who could save with state-based policies,” Healey continued. “I have coached our board to understand that we are preparing for uncertainty and a slower growth future.”
Ben Airth, policy director at Freedom Forever, a national residential solar installer, is also looking to states this year. “It’s truly at the state level where we’re going to see solar policies realized,” he said. He cited the example of California’s Self-Generation Incentive Program, which offers dedicated incentives for low-income and disadvantaged communities.
Airth declined to speculate on how the incoming presidential administration might change the landscape for residential solar, though he expects the situation to be largely status quo for most of 2025.
Healey continues to be driven by PosiGen’s mission, despite the political headwinds: “I fundamentally believe that the question of equity and access to clean energy is critical to our collective future. If folks are excluded, you’re not gonna build political support, you’re not going to have a story that works, you’re not going to actually serve those that matter.”
