The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested over US$6 billion through several of its programmes for the development of renewable energy in rural US.
These programmes are Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) with investments in rural communities across 30 US states which will benefit from clean and affordable energy – including solar PV and energy storage, while also creating jobs.
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Most of the investments will go to New ERA, which will receive over US$5.49 billion in grants and loans to finance 28 clean energy projects across 21 states.
Among the projects receiving funding from the USDA is a 200MW solar PV plant from Seven States Power Corp, an energy solutions cooperative which includes 153 local power companies across seven states of the Tennessee Valley.
Great River Energy, an electric transmission and generation cooperative will receive a US$794 million investment to procure over 1.2GW of renewable energy in rural areas across Minnesota and North Dakota. Among the projects included in the procurement are distributed renewable energy.
With this latest round of investments, the USDA has awarded nearly all (90%) of its available funding for New ERA to benefit rural electric cooperatives with US$9 billion of the programme’s US$9.7 billion budget.
“In just two years, the New ERA and PACE programs have created dozens of new partnerships with rural electric cooperatives and communities that will reduce pollution, create jobs and make clean energy more affordable for millions of rural Americans,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said.
“These investments we’re making today will continue to support the health, prosperity and well-being of rural Americans for generations to come.”
US$565 million for PACE investments
For PACE investments, the USDA is providing nearly US$565 million in partially forgivable loans to finance 26 clean energy projects across 17 US states.
This includes the development of solar PV facilities and a battery energy storage system (BESS) totalling 30.75MW of renewable energy in rural parts of Arizona and new Mexico; a 4.5MW solar PV system in Kentucky or a 10MW BESS in rural Michigan.
Under the PACE programme, the USDA has already allocated over US$1.6 billion in partially forgivable loans of PACE program funds for clean energy projects serving rural Americans.
