In tandem with its three-part plan to move toward total renewable energy, the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona recently announced it was a recipient of a $50,000 grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation’s 2025 Frankenthaler Climate Initiative.

The implementation grant will “support holistic, transformative, and complex initiatives that address an institution’s climate impact at multiple levels,” according to frankenthalerclimateinitiative.org/2025-fci-grants. Funding will support the project’s second phase when about 100 solar panels will be installed on the museum’s roof.

The first phase was launched in 2023 alongside renewable energy company ReJoule LLC, with the ceramic art’s museum “acting as a test site for a first-in-the-nation reuse of electric vehicle batteries. 224 modules (over 9,000 lbs of electric vehicle batteries) have entered their second life, turning potential hazardous waste into energy storage for the community. When tests are completed by the end of 2025, this 275 [kilowatt-hour] system should consistently provide 24 hours of reserve power,” read a news release.

Phase three, in 2027 and 2028, will include the installation of additional panels.

More info is at frankenthalerclimateinitiative.org/2025-fci-grants.