The departments of Agriculture and Energy on Wednesday announced a joint initiative to boost farm adoption of underutilized renewable technologies including smaller-scale wind projects.
The effort, called the Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy, aims to help 400 individual farmers deploy small wind projects. Distributed or small wind projects typically involve a single wind turbine that directly powers a home, farm or small business.
According to the agencies, distributed energy projects can give farms “energy independence,” as well as increase the reliability and resilience of the local electric grid.
“There is a huge opportunity to power the American heartland with distributed wind resources,” Energy Secretary Jennifer M. Granholm said in the press release.
Funding for RAISE comes from USDA’s Rural Energy for America Program, which was given more than $144 million through the Inflation Reduction Act. More than 20 wind turbine projects have received nearly $2 million in REAP grants already.
The Energy Department announced $4 million in related funding for the effort to expand wind technologies, including $1.5 million to identify new business models for farmers to earn income while deploying the technologies. Around $2.5 million will support testing, certification and commercialization of wind technologies for agricultural applications.
"These investments will create long-lasting economic benefits for their families, businesses and communities for years to come," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
