USDA Selects First Five Applications to Move Forward in the Awards Process for the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program

As part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s PowerXchange annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas that USDA is moving forward on clean energy investments in 23 states to reduce pollution and strengthen rural America’s power grid. The announcement includes the first five awards totaling $139 million under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program. Secretary Vilsack also announced $2.2 billion in funding awarded to 39 projects to help ensure over 2 million people in rural areas have access to reliable electricity.

“Rural electric cooperatives are the backbone of America’s power delivery, and the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to helping them create a path toward a cleaner, more sustainable future that lowers energy costs and creates jobs and lasting economic prosperity for people everywhere,” Secretary Vilsack said. “Today’s announcement reinforces this commitment and delivers on President Biden’s promise to strengthen America’s energy security by investing to deploy renewable energy technology and upgrade thousands of miles of transmission line across the nation.“

USDA is financing projects through the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee program and selecting the first applications to move forward in the awards process for the Powering Affordable Clean Energy program.

Together, these projects will reduce electricity costs for hardworking families and small business owners and prevent power outages in the face of extreme weather exacerbated by the climate crisis. The investments will also strengthen the nation’s energy independence and good-paying jobs that benefit everyone.

These announcements advance President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which set the goal that 40 percent of the overall benefits of Federal climate, clean energy, and other covered investments flow to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

Powering Affordable Clean Energy Awards

As part of this announcement, USDA is announcing that five applications totaling $139 million in requested funds have been selected to move forward in the awards process for the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program funded by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. These applications propose to serve disadvantaged and Tribal communities in Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii and Nebraska.

Applicants that have been selected to move forward in the awards process are listed below.

• Trico Electric Cooperative Inc. in Arizona is seeking $83.5 million to expand its battery energy storage system capacity and provide reliable electricity to the growing number of people living in the surrounding areas of Tucson and the Pascua Yaqui Reservation. This funding will help the cooperative reach its goal to cut its carbon emissions in half by 2032.
• La Plata Electric Association in Colorado is seeking $13.4 million to save more than half a million dollars in annual energy costs and deliver affordable clean solar energy to its member owners. This includes people living in distressed, disadvantaged and energy communities. It also includes people living on the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Tribal reservations.
• Kauai Island Utility Cooperative in Hawaii is seeking $24.4 million to expand solar energy production and to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels during peak evening hours in Anahola, Koloa and Port Allen. This project will create jobs for people in the community, strengthen the local electric grid, increase resilience in the face of climate change, and further the cooperative’s goal of providing 100% renewable energy by 2033.
• The village of Emerson in Nebraska is seeking $1 million to finance a solar facility to make efficiency improvements to its energy distribution system for the Winnebago Tribe.
• Midwest Electric Cooperative Corporation, also in Nebraska, is seeking nearly $17 million to finance solar renewable energy resource facilities and energy storage systems for communities in Wallace, Grant, Paxton and Lakeview.

Funding for the PACE program is made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. This historic legislative package is the nation’s largest-ever investment in rural electric energy since the New Deal.

In May 2023, USDA made $1 billion available through PACE to fund new clean energy projects and energy storage in rural America. The funding being requested is critical in helping people heat their homes, run their businesses and power their cars, schools, hospitals and more.

USDA expects to continue making PACE awards in the coming months.

Electric Infrastructure Loans

USDA is also investing $2.2 billion to support 39 projects in 21 states through the Electric Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program. Funding will help utility providers and electric cooperatives build and improve electric infrastructure, smart-grid technologies and renewable energy systems.

The projects will ensure more than two million people in rural areas have access to reliable electricity, increasing their opportunities for economic growth and enhancing their overall quality of life.

Related Article: USDA’s $207 Million Investment Fuels Clean Energy and Fertilizer Projects for Farms

For example:

• In central Florida, Sumter Electric Cooperative Inc. will use $317 million to build and improve more than 1,000 miles of power lines and connect 32,000 customers to reliable electricity. Nearly $5 million from this investment will be used to help the cooperative advance its smart grid technologies and install 38.4 miles of fiber line.
• Deep East Texas Electric Cooperative Inc. will use $58.5 million to build and improve 370 miles of power lines and connect 2,200 customers to reliable electricity in eastern Texas. Nearly $10 million of this investment will be used to help the cooperative advance its smart grid technologies.

Electric infrastructure projects will benefit rural business owners, families and individuals in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Texas and Wisconsin.