A new round of federal grants will pump billions into renewable energy projects in rural areas

The Biden administration announced that a new round of grants from the federal government will pay out $78 million in 12 states and 13 tribal nations in hopes of reducing energy bills for rural residents and creating new renewable energy projects.

The money will help fund 19 projects in Alaska, Oklahoma, Alabama, Maine and elsewhere funded under the bipartisan $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed by President Biden in 2021.

The amount of money pumped into renewable energy sources over the past few years – particularly in rural communities – is “a game changer,” said Scott Vlaun, executive director of the Center for a Green-Based Economy, one of the grant recipients. In total, the administration has allocated $1 billion for the Rural or Remote Areas Energy Improvements (ERA) program.

“This is huge,” Vlaun said. “When we founded our organization 11 years ago, there was no such opportunity to obtain federal funding for renewable energy projects.”

Projects in this round of financing range from installing new photovoltaic installations to commissioning new electric distribution lines. In Ferry and Okanogan counties in Washington state, part of the $5 million grant is earmarked to expand underground electric lines to approximately 135-190 homes that will gain access to electric service for the first time.

In Maine, the Center for a Green-Based Economy will receive about $3 million to install small-scale solar projects that will help local families get cheaper electricity and, in some cases, allow families to move away from other, more harmful heating sources, such as kerosene.

According to a fact sheet provided by the co-op, their electric co-op gives preference to low- and moderate-income households and renters. Their panels are also more technologically advanced than traditional ones – they move throughout the day to follow the sun, increasing the amount of electricity per acre.

The organization says a project of less than one acre could power 50 to 80 households. Their panels also allow for other outdoor applications, e.g. growing vegetables or blueberries.

“Between the bipartisan infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, this is probably many times the largest investment in climate action that our government has made,” Vlaun said. “This money from the Department of Energy is flowing into rural communities where people face high energy burdens.”

At East Central Community College in Mississippi, a $2.8 million grant will help pay for solar installations that could provide clean energy for 38 facilities on campus. That, along with lighting upgrades in about two dozen buildings, should save the college $170,000 a year.

And in Ouzinkie’s home village on Spruce Island, Alaska, $1.7 million will go toward building a solar system and a battery to store energy during bad weather. The Biden administration says that because there is no grocery store in the village, “modern refrigeration and stable electricity are essential” to protect the community’s food supply.

The latest round of grants ranges from $500,000 to $5 million and focuses on communities with fewer than 10,000 people. Additionally, the administration says it has removed some barriers to the application process that are known to exclude some rural communities.

An analysis last year by the nonprofit Headwaters Economics found that “low-capacity,” mostly rural communities lacked the staff and expertise to compete in previous federal grant competitions, Yonder reported at the time.

But Vlaun said that in communities like those in western Maine served by the Center for a Green-Based Economy, this round of grants could have a big impact on the daily lives of many rural residents.

He said maintaining the current enthusiasm for spending federal dollars on renewable energy may depend on the outcome of the November election and the effectiveness of propaganda aimed at reducing confidence in renewable energy.

“I think a lot of people are really concerned about what will happen next year if there is a change of administration,” he said. “I think we have already heard from the source that they will do everything in their power to gut these programs.”

Still, Vlaun said the positive impact of renewable energy projects on rural communities is clear.

“We’re seeing in our communities that renewable energy really works, electric vehicles work, even here in rural Maine,” he said. “But there is a lot of propaganda on the internet saying it doesn’t work, but we see with our own eyes that it works.”

Related