Did the Biden administration develop a program that allows qualified homeowners to receive solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall battery system for free? No, that's not true: Although the administration proposed a $555 billion budget dedicated to clean energy and climate change efforts in 2021, there is no evidence of a program within that budget that would provide solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall to qualified homeowners at no cost.
The claim appeared in a Facebook post on April 23, 2022. The post includes a video with a caption that reads:
A new government stimulus program is available in your area for a limited time.
This program is providing solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall to all qualified homes for absolutely NO COST.
The solar panels you'll receive in this program are so powerful that they may offset your power bill by 100%, allowing you to possibly never have to make another payment again.
Not to mention your home will be protected from power outages thanks to the Tesla Powerwall.
The only catch is that your roof must face a special direction.
To see if your roof qualifies, click the button below this video now and answer a few questions before this program goes away forever.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Wed May 4 21:26:04 2022 UTC)
The information in the caption and the information in the video seem a bit at odds: While the caption stated that the solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall would be provided at no cost, the video said that although the installation would be free, qualified homeowners would buy the solar panels and a Tesla Powerwall through a federal allowance of up to $2,500. Both the caption and the narrator of the video said interested users could click a link contained in the post to check their qualification status. However, Lead Stories did not locate any link that led users to more information.
At the time of writing, there is no "government stimulus program" -- or, as it is referred to by the video's narrator, a "Clean Energy Program" -- that is making the offer in the Facebook post. As a part of its Build Back Better Act framework, the Biden administration announced its plan to make a $555 billion investment in clean energy and climate change efforts, including $320 billion specifically for clean energy tax credits. However, the Build Back Better Act has only passed in the House of Representatives and has not become law at the time of writing.
Lead Stories used Google's search engine to search for "Tesla Powerwall Clean Energy Program," "Biden Clean Energy Program Tesla," "Biden Clean Energy Program solar panels," "Biden Tesla Powerwall" and "Biden Clean Energy Program $2,500 solar." There were credible results explaining that those who install a Tesla Powerwall using a new or existing solar energy system may qualify for a federal tax credit. But none of the results mentioned a program like the one described in the Facebook post.
Lead Stories attempted to contact Tesla for more information about the claim. We will update this story with any response.
