USDA Continues Historic Commitment, Partnering with Rural Communities on Clean, Affordable Energy

Source: www.gulfoilandgas.com 1/13/2025, Location: North America

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $474 million in clean energy investments through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) programs in rural North Carolina today.

Rural electric cooperatives and communities will use the funding to support thousands of jobs, lower electricity costs for businesses and families, and reduce climate pollution by tons each year.

New ERA and PACE were made possible by President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936.

Both New ERA and PACE are also covered programs in the President’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy and other investment areas flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

“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,” Secretary 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.”

New ERA Investments
Seven States Power Corp. will use a $439 million investment to build 250 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from a solar facility that will serve parts of Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The project will power nearly 113,000 homes each year, create over 100 jobs and reduce climate pollution by nearly 291,000 tons each year. The New ERA program's interest savings and grant funds will reduce the project’s costs by more than $340 million.

Nationwide, USDA is providing more than $5.49 billion in grants and loans to finance 28 clean energy projects in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Details on all of these awards are available on the New ERA website.

USDA has now awarded roughly 90 percent of total available New ERA funding to benefit rural electric cooperatives and their members, obligating approximately $9 billion of the program’s $9.7 billion budget authority. This represents more than $14.5 billion in grants and loans benefiting 35 states, with rural electric cooperatives committing to build or purchase more than 13 gigawatts of clean energy. These projects will create good-paying jobs, lower energy costs for rural communities, significantly reduce pollution, enhance the resiliency of the nation’s electric grid and advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative. For more information, see the New ERA fact sheet.

PACE Investments
In Bladen County, HCE Oakland Solar LLC is expected to receive a $35 million loan to build a solar photovoltaic facility capable of producing 40 megawatts of renewable energy. This will provide enough electricity to power 5,300 homes per year.

The project will generate more than 70 short and long-term jobs. It will also provide power to the utility system at a cost savings of approximately $16.9 million over the contract term. The project is in a disadvantaged area known as a Justice40 tract, which has four qualifying categories, including energy.

The energy generated by the facility will be sold to North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation and transmitted to the cooperatives which it serves.

Nationwide, USDA is providing approximately $565 million in partially forgivable loans to finance 26 clean energy projects in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.

USDA has now obligated more than $1.6 billion in partially forgivable loans of PACE program funds for clean energy projects serving rural Americans.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, support jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and healthcare; and high-speed internet access in rural, Tribal and high-poverty areas. Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America.

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America.


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