Hundreds of farms and rural businesses have new support for reducing energy consumption or changing to renewable energy, thanks to funding from the USDA. The support is part of the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) authorized by the 2008 farm bill.
The 450 projects, located across the U.S., added up to $7.4 million in grants. They included new solar installations; one project, in rural Tennessee, will be the first solar powered business in its county. The solar panels installed in that project will generate more than 71,000 kWh of electricity, covering more than half of the business’s energy needs, and generating extra income for the business owner from the local utility, which pays for clean electricity generation.
Other projects range widely, and include a grant for an efficient grain dryer that will save a farm owner 42% of annual energy use. Another grant will help a poultry farmer replace propane heaters with renewable biomass wood pellet heaters, saving the farmer over $3,000 for each of his barns.
Twenty farms and rural businesses received grants to conduct feasibility studies for new renewable energy systems. A lumber mill in Washington state is studying the possibility of installing a biomass co-generation system that will provide power, and eliminate the need to send any wood to a landfill. In Vermont, a woodchip company will study the feasibility of installing a 4 megawatt power plant powered by its biomass waste.
Learn more about REAP at the USDA site.
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