In an executive order aimed at “unleashing American energy,” President Donald Trump ordered federal agencies to immediately freeze the funding for several programs that stand to add more clean energy infrastructure to Florida.

The future of low-cost loans and grants for Floridians adding rooftop solar panels, plus money to build electric vehicle chargers along Florida highways is now uncertain.

The order was part of a blitz Trump signed within hours of his inauguration last week, when he also declared an end to policies that promoted EVs, halted new permits for offshore wind projects and withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

His directive instructs federal agencies to “immediately pause the disbursement of funds” appropriated by two laws, the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, for at least 90 days. During this period, officials must review their procedures for issuing the money to ensure they are consistent with the administration’s energy goals.

Duanne Andrade, executive director of one of three Florida nonprofits working to open applications for the rooftop solar program, said everyone is still trying to untangle what the order means. A key point of confusion: The order doesn’t differentiate between funding still held by the federal government and money that’s already been legally committed to specific purposes.

Andrade’s group, the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, for example, has been working to set up an application process after the Biden administration said it would award $156 million for grants and loans for lower- and middle-income Floridians wanting to add panels to their roofs. Around 700 people have already submit inquiries, Andrade said, and the nonprofits aimed to open an application portal this spring.

For now, Andrade said she wants to stay out of the “anxiety echo chamber” and focus on the mission of the program as long as she can. After the initial funding, the initiative was designed to be self-sustaining so that payments made by Floridians could get lent out to others.

“We are a coalition who presented a work plan that will serve low-income households with upgrades to their homes that will benefit them, save energy and build climate resilience,” Andrade said. “Of course there is nervousness, but we’re just focused on making sure we can roll out these funds as planned.”

Trump’s executive order also impacts another pot of money: $98 million Florida was slated to receive to help companies, namely gas stations, add EV chargers near major highways. That 2022 initiative, called the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program, has already been stalled at the state level since Florida officials have yet to open applications for businesses seeking the money. Florida’s transportation department previously blamed the feds for the delay, and said it wanted to use the money for things like traffic lights instead of chargers.

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State officials praised Trump’s funding freeze. Michael Williams, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Transportation, said the agency is “encouraged by the Trump Administration’s decision to review the (EV charging) program that, since its inception, has proven itself to be a wasteful program.” He cited the sluggish rollout of chargers funded by the initiative nationwide, adding that it has resulted in just 20 chargers so far.

The program is also “not aligned with the traditional role of transportation funding,” Williams said, “which should be focused on … projects like roads and bridges.”

At least the first three years’ worth of the program’s money has already been legally obligated to the states, according to Loren McDonald, chief analyst at Paren, an EV charger data firm. It’s possible the federal government could try to claw back all of Florida’s unused money, though that would likely require action by Congress.

Ryan McKinnon, a spokesperson for the Charge Ahead Partnership, a group of companies like Wawa and Buc-ee’s that want to get in on the EV charging business, said this funding would add chargers where drivers need them most. It also required the companies receiving the funds to still put up 20% of the money needed to install the chargers.

“It might sound like, ‘Oh, you apply for free money from the government,’ but in reality, anyone applying for it was doing a significant new venture,” he said. “For it to be thrown into such uncertainty in the 11th hour is not helpful for all the private businesses that we want to be involved in EV charging because they … have locations right off the highway.”

Florida has the second-most EVs of any state, and the state registered more EVs in 2024 than the previous year, even as adoption began to level out nationwide.