Puerto Rico Is Waiting for Frozen I.R.A. Funds

To keep the lights on in her residential mental health clinic outside of San Juan, Liomarie Oyola Pérez needs money.

Ms. Oyola Pérez and her staff already go to extraordinary lengths during the blackouts that have become increasingly common in Puerto Rico, juggling three generators or waiting hours in line to get gas to power them. Her facility has solar panels, but she wants to add batteries that would store energy for use when the sun isn’t shining. For that, she needs a loan.

This year, her lender was awarded millions through a federal program that would provide low-interest loans to candidates like Ms. Oyola Pérez.

But the money is frozen, part of $20 billion committed to finance climate and clean energy projects that was abruptly halted at the request of the Trump administration. Several nonprofit groups that were promised funds have sued; a court hearing is scheduled for Monday.

At stake is funding for projects across the United States meant to assist people like Ms. Oyola Pérez and reduce their energy costs while also cutting the pollution that is driving climate change. They range from efforts to add geothermal energy to affordable housing in Iowa to energy efficiency upgrades for a senior housing community in Massachusetts.

Nationwide, the federal program could finance enough new solar arrays to power up to 2.2 million homes by 2031, according to a recent analysis from Energy Innovation, a research organization, and the University of New Hampshire.

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