WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2025 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced more than $6 billion 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. 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 millions of tons each year. More than one in five rural Americans will benefit from clean energy investments supported through the New ERA and PACE programs.
New ERA and PACE were made possible by President 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% 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
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. Some examples include:
- Inside Passage Electric Cooperative will use a $7.4 million investment to build .35 megawatts of clean energy from a run-of-river hydropower facility near the remote community of Hoonah in southeast Alaska. The project will power nearly 543 homes each year, create approximately 25 jobs and reduce climate pollution by nearly 1,548 tons each year.
- Great River Energy will use a $794 million investment to procure 1,275 megawatts of renewable energy in rural areas across Minnesota and North Dakota. Projects will include large-scale wind energy, distributed renewable energy and other innovative investments. The investment is expected to create over 1,600 jobs, reduce costs for members by approximately $40 million each year, and climate pollution by over 5.49 million tons each year.
- 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.
Other rural electric cooperatives receiving funding in this award announcement include: 1803 Electric Cooperative Inc., Arizona Electric Power Cooperative Inc., Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Blue Earth-Nicollet-Fairbault Cooperative Electric Association, Buckeye Power Inc., Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc., Chickasaw Electric Cooperative, Concordia Electric Cooperative Inc., Dakota Electric Association, East Central Energy, East Kentucky Power Cooperative, Flint Hills Rural Electric Cooperative Association Inc., Fox Islands Cooperative, Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association, Grand Valley Rural Power Lines Inc., Inland Power and Light Company, Kit Carson Electric Cooperative Inc., Lake Country Power, Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association Inc., Mountain Parks Electric Inc., Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative, Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation, San Miguel Power Association Inc., Stearns Cooperative Electric Association and Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric.
In addition to the organizations receiving funding today, USDA has selected Blue Ridge Power Agency and San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative to move forward in the process to receive funding for proposed projects.
USDA has now awarded roughly 90% 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.
Additional details on all funding recipients and selectees are available on the New ERA website.
PACE Investments
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. For example:
- The Navajo Tribal Utility Authority will use a more than $110 million investment to develop solar-power facilities and a battery energy storage system totaling 30.75 megawatts of renewable energy in rural parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The projects are expected to provide enough locally generated electricity to power nearly 13,000 homes each year.
- Tri-County KY Affordable Solar LLC will use an approximately $8.2 million investment to develop a solar-power system totaling nearly 4.5 megawatts of renewable energy in Scottsville, Kentucky. This project will provide a portion of the electricity needed to power approximately 20,000 rural households.
- Electric City ESS LLC will use a more than $16 million investment to build a 10-megawatt battery energy storage system for renewable energy in rural Michigan. The project will supplement the municipal electric utility’s existing solar and hydropower sources and provide power to 7,200 people each year.
Additional details on all funding recipients and finalists are available on the PACE website. Other organizations receiving funding today are Algona Affordable Solar LLC, Carmi Affordable Solar LLC, Carroll White Rural Electric Membership Corporation, Clay Creek Energy LLC, Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, Fort Morgan Solar LLC, HCE Collier Solar LLC, HCE Mountain Run Solar LLC, Highland Affordable Solar LLC, Holocene Oaklands Solar LLC, Metropolis Affordable Solar LLC, Paw Paw Affordable Solar LLC, Petoskey Affordable Solar LLC, Powder River Energy Corporation, Rantoul Affordable Solar LLC, River Song Solar LLC, South Haven Affordable Solar LLC, St. Louis MI Affordable Solar LLC, TPI Natural, Tutuilla Solar LLC, West Grand Ridge Solar LLC and Yakama Power.
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. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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