The USDA program that promotes rural renewable energy production and energy efficiency would see annual funding of $250 million along with a $1 billion injection to address a backlog in applications under companion Senate and House bills introduced Thursday. At present, the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) gets $50 million a year.
The bipartisan bills would make rural electric cooperatives and rural producer cooperatives eligible for REAP funding, boost the available cost share to 50 percent from the current 25 percent, and streamline the application process. REAP has funded such projects as installing solar panels on a farmstead to reduce electricity costs and placing wind turbines on ranches.
“Renewable energy is rural energy,” said Sen. Tina Smith, Minnesota Democrat and a sponsor of the legislation. “The clean energy transition is key to improving and sustaining economic vitality in rural communities.” Smith’s cosponsor in the Senate was Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, New Mexico Democrat. House sponsors were Reps. Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, and David Valadao, a California Republican.