Congressional Republicans have signaled their intention to find scandal in the Department of Energy’s loan program that would aid their efforts to repeal President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act and its historic $369 billion in climate and energy provisions. Now, right-wing media are assisting those GOP efforts by targeting solar energy company Sunnova in reporting that mischaracterizes its federal loan guarantee and attacks the renewable energy industry as a whole.  

On November 22, The Washington Free Beacon reported, “A solar company that was awarded a $3 billion Department of Energy loan has been accused of scamming dementia patients on their deathbeds into signing five-figure, multi-decade solar panel leases.” The article noted that the accusation “comes as the DOE’s Loan Programs Office is facing scrutiny from Congress over potential conflicts of interest involving the $3 billion federal loan to Sunnova Energy,” and quoted a former Energy Department official who claimed, “This is reminiscent of the mortgages of the 2000s, just getting people to sign, with no care at all as to the consequences. … Why not just call it subprime solar?"

While the report is troubling and worthy of scrutiny, the incidents documented by The Washington Free Beacon are not evidence that taxpayer money has been wasted or misused, nor is the story representative of all residential solar programs. In fact, as E&E News reported, “A loan program office official who was granted anonymity to speak candidly emphasized that the Sunnova project is a loan guarantee and that no money has actually gone out the door.” The article also cited clean energy lobbyist Joe Britton, who pointed out the political nature and the hypocrisy of the attacks:

Nevertheless, congressional Republicans have seized on the reporting by The Washington Free Beacon to probe the loan guarantee awarded to Sunnova, while Fox News’ Jesse Watters has suggested “the entire solar industry is a scam” that is being funded by “400 billion of your money.”

Right-wing media targeting Sunnova

• Right-wing outlets misleadingly described the Energy Department’s loan guarantee to suggest that the Biden administration had directly paid Sunnova billions of dollars. The Washington Free Beacon wrote that GOP legislators “are probing the Biden administration's decision to grant an unprecedented $3 billion loan to a solar company accused of scamming elderly dementia patients,” while Fox News Digital reported, “Republican leaders in the House and Senate are probing the Department of Energy (DOE) over its recent $3 billion award to a solar energy company that has been accused of scamming vulnerable customers.” [The Washington Free Beacon, 12/12/23; FoxNews.com, 12/8/23]

• The Daily Wire reported on the Sunnova probe on December 9, adding: “President Joe Biden has been pushing the Democrats’ leftist green energy agenda seeking to address the ‘climate crisis’ and has emphasized expanding solar energy. Earlier this year, the Biden administration launched a $7 billion ‘Solar for All’ grant competition … created by the president’s Inflation Reduction Act.” [The Daily Wire, 12/9/23]

• Jesse Watters Primetime featured the story on December 11, claiming: “Democrats have been telling us for years solar is the future. A lot of times it's just a big rip-off.” Watters continued: “This spring, Joe Biden gave a huge contract to a solar company that many are calling a scam. That company is called Sunnova and the Better Business Bureau gave them an F. Normally you wouldn’t really reward bad behavior, but the Biden administration just handed the company $3 billion — billion — of your money.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 12/11/23]

• Fox Business host Elizabeth MacDonald compared Sunnova to Solyndra, a now-defunct solar energy firm that was previously a target of conservative ire during the Obama administration. MacDonald said: “The complaint has been money is flying out the door unchecked with no strings attached. That the Biden White House has a $400 billion green energy loan program overseen by an insider,” referring to Energy Department loan director Jigar Shah. She also said that the loan given to Sunnova “is about six times what the Obama White House gave green energy failure Solyndra.” [Fox Business, The Evening Edit, 12/12/23; Media Matters, 11/13/14]

• On December 13, Watters aired a second segment suggesting that “now we’re beginning to think the entire solar industry is a scam and that Joe Biden poured 400 billion of your money into the scam,” claiming that the Energy Department’s loan guarantees were “letting solar panel companies hand out leases like we're handing out mortgages in 2008.” [Fox News, Jesse Watters Primetime, 12/13/23]

Led in part by Watters’ coverage, Fox News has spent the past year spreading misinformation about offshore wind turbines and misleading viewers about the Inflation Reduction Act in an effort to undermine Biden’s climate agenda.

In reality, the IRA has transformed the clean energy landscape by funding new developments and electric vehicle production across the U.S. Since its passage, 272 clean energy projects have been announced in the United States, representing $278 billion in new investment and creating over 170,000 new jobs, according to Climate Power. Meanwhile, Canary Media reports that “solar is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S., making up almost half of all new power capacity in the first three quarters of 2023.”