Local projects receive funding for solar projects

FRESNO COUNTY – A significant investment in renewable energy projects has led to two local companies receiving grants to build major solar farms in Reedley and Fowler.

Through a program known as the Rural Energy for America Project, or REAP, California Growers, LLC and Sunny Truck and RV Wash received grants to build solar energy projects. The combined projects will allow both companies to significantly reduce energy costs and provide greater flexibility in local energy use.

The largest of the two projects will be a solar panel project on the roof of the California Growers packing plant in Reedley. The grant will provide $712,994 for construction of the project. Once completed, the solar project will provide up to 873,192 kilowatt-hours per year, enough to power 82 homes.

The Sunny Truck and RV Wash project received less funding, totaling just $63,298, which is intended to help cover the costs of construction and purchasing the solar panels. The completed system will deliver 64,186 kWh per year, enough to power five homes. The system will help reduce the costs associated with running a car wash, which is an energy-intensive business.

The money comes from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ federal government program, Investing in Rural America Through Inflation Reduction Act. Nationwide, REAP is providing $145 million in grants to more than 700 projects. Fifteen of the projects are in California.

REAP is just one part of Investing in Rural America. In October 2023, Biden and Harris announced more than $5 billion in grants to improve rural America. The grants will fund things like high-speed internet access, climate-smart agriculture, renewable energy projects and rural economic development programs.

The administration has promoted the subsidy program as the largest investment in rural America since the New Deal, a program that was a response to the Great Depression under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and resulted in several massive construction projects, such as the construction of Hoover Dam.

In May 2024, Biden announced funding for additional grants for rural communities through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, a massive $65 billion spending plan that will target clean drinking water projects, road construction and clean energy projects. About $1 billion will be spent to support agricultural markets to help rural dairies, meat processors and small businesses by introducing more competition.

According to a fact sheet prepared by the White House, four meatpackers control 85% of the U.S. supply, which hurts farmers by limiting options and artificially lowering prices, and hurts consumers by artificially raising prices paid at the store. The program will aim to encourage the expansion of processors to break the dominance of large corporate meatpackers, allowing farmers to get better rates and lower costs for consumers.