The U.S. Division of Agriculture (USDA) is ceasing funding for inner applications spurring photo voltaic and wind development on farmland. USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins made the announcement on X yesterday, citing issues of photo voltaic and wind’s “destruction” of U.S. farmland.
“We’re not permitting companies to make use of your taxpayer {dollars} to fund photo voltaic tasks on prime American farmland, and we’ll not enable photo voltaic panels manufactured by overseas adversaries for use in our USDA-funded tasks,” Rollins stated in a USDA press launch.
Photo voltaic tasks will not qualify for the USDA Improvement Enterprise and Business Assured Mortgage program. Maybe extra importantly, the USDA will now restrict the scale of photo voltaic tasks eligible for grants via the Rural Vitality for America Program (REAP) program.
Shifting ahead, ground-mount photo voltaic tasks exceeding 50 kW in measurement can’t qualify, nor can different ground-mount tasks that don’t present “historic power utilization,” based on the press release.
REAP supplies photo voltaic challenge funding for farmers, small companies, cooperatives, electrical utilities and Tribal firms in agricultural communities. It’s at present unclear whether or not or not photo voltaic tasks which have already been permitted for a REAP grant however not meet these new stipulations will obtain that funding.
George Horrocks, president of New Hampshire photo voltaic contractor Concord Vitality Works, stated a big a part of his firm’s output is funded by REAP grants.
“Do I’ve issues about it? Yeah, however I’m extra involved for farmers. If you happen to take a look at the scenario of farmers, it’s in regards to the backside line to remain alive,” Horrocks stated. “That’s what they’re making an attempt to do. I do know these guys who love farming, and that’s why they do it. Now you’re mainly making an attempt to interrupt their legs. They’re simply making an attempt to scale back their power prices.”
At its introduction, the REAP program offered money grants at 25% of a photo voltaic challenge’s price, which was elevated to 50% when the Inflation Discount Act offered an extra $145 million in funding in 2024. This system was slated to supply over $2 billion in funding via 2031 with help from the IRA. Because it was began, REAP had already granted $2.08 billion in challenge funding for renewable power and power effectivity tasks.
It is a creating story. Photo voltaic Energy World will proceed to replace this information as extra data is launched.
