U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA is moving forward in the awards process with a new clean energy project through the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program. Secretary Vilsack announced that SE Municipal Solar LLC in Nebraska has been selected to move forward to receive nearly $30 million to build eight solar photovoltaic generation facilities totaling 18.72 megawatts. The facilities will produce enough electricity to power more than 1,700 residential homes throughout the State and will be located in Alliance, Gering, Sidney, Imperial, Ansley, Pender, Crete, and Stuart, Nebraska.
The funding for USDA’s PACE program is from the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936. The Inflation Reduction Act partners with rural communities to deliver clean, affordable energy.
“Rural communities are the backbone of America, and the Biden-Harris Administration is proud to partner with them to create a more affordable and sustainable future that will benefit rural families, businesses and the health of our planet for generations to come,” Secretary Vilsack said. “The project we’re announcing today will create good-paying jobs, lower energy costs for consumers, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the resiliency of our nation’s electric grid.”
Also today, USDA Rural Development Rural Utilities Service Administrator Andrew Berke attended the Nebraska Governor’s Ag and Economic Development Summit in Kearney, Nebraska where he highlighted the PACE program and SE Municipal Solar LLC. Joining him were representatives from the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and Environmental Protection Agency.
“Thanks to the Biden-Harris Administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, we have seen incredible ingenuity when it comes to finding new ways to provide clean, affordable energy to rural Americans,” Administrator Berke said. “The PACE project we are announcing today – and many others to come – reduces costs, creates jobs, and provides new economic opportunities for rural Americans. This gives people in rural America a better chance to succeed and stay in the rural communities they love.”
The project is also committed to hiring apprentices and providing workforce training to create job opportunities. This award not only supports the local economy but also contributes to skill development and community empowerment.
These awards continue the big investments that the Biden-Harris Administration are making to create good paying jobs and lower energy costs in Nebraska.
This announcement comes just months after USDA previously announced projects across the state, in which the Department:
- Invested more than $20 million in Rural Energy for America Program awards to rural small businesses and agricultural producers.
- Selected Bluestem Energy Solutions LLC to receive an approximately $3.6 million PACE award to build a 2-megawatt community solar facility with the City of Madison electric utility.
- Selected Midwest Electric Cooperative Corporation to receive a nearly $17 million PACE award to finance solar renewable energy resource facilities and energy storage systems for communities in Wallace, Grant, Paxton and Lakeview.
- Selected the village of Emerson to receive a $1 million PACE award to finance a solar facility which makes efficiency improvements to its energy distribution system serving the Emerson community.
By using renewable energy from natural sources, these investments will make it more affordable for people to heat their homes, run their businesses and power cars, schools, hospitals and more.
In May 2023, USDA made $1 billion available through PACE to fund new clean energy projects and energy storage in rural America. This program provides low interest loans with up to 60% loan forgiveness to renewable energy developers, rural electric cooperatives and other rural energy providers for renewable energy storage and projects that use wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass.
It is part of 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.
To date, USDA has selected 13 projects in 6 states totaling $495 million to move forward in the PACE application process.
USDA expects to continue making PACE awards in the coming months.
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create 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 health care; 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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