THG Corporation News
USDA Announces Grants
for
Energy
Projects
Totaling
$1.5 Million
for New England Firms
(10-01-2011) The Secretary of Agriculture recently announced grants for agricultural producers and rural small businesses to implement renewable energy and energy efficiency measures in their operations. A total of 1,400 grants were announced valued at $ 38 million. The combined total for the six New England states was $ 1.5 million, according to the announcement made by Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack.
The type of approved energy projects included solar, wind, biomass, and general energy efficiency. The grants are being provided through the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), a farm bill passed by Congress. The REAP offers funds for farmers, ranchers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy-efficiency improvements.
Projects Promote Energy Independence
According to published accounts these investments enable farmers and other rural businesses to develop energy systems that will save thousands of dollars in energy costs each year. The funding is part of a plan to conserve natural resources, create jobs, and becoming more energy independent.
Examples of projects included a grant to install photovoltaic panels that will generate solar electricity for a dairy barn. The solar system will power the lighting in the barn during milking, the vacuum pump, the milk cooler, and the fans.
Another grant will pay to install a geothermal system in a new warehouse. The new building is replacing a similarly sized warehouse that is currently heated by a propane furnace. The geothermal system will circulate a water-based solution through a buried loop system that takes advantage of the constant 55 degree ground temperature.
Energy Project in New Hampshire
One of the New England projects went to Pugliese Contracting Corporation in Windham, NH. It was selected to receive a $99,500 loan guarantee and a $49,875 grant to purchase and install a 30 kilowatt solar photovoltaic system and a geothermal heating and cooling system in its 8,000 sq ft operations center. Once installed, the system will reduce energy purchased from the grid by 63 percent. The geothermal system will provide 100 percent of the business's heating and cooling needs.
The funding of each award is contingent upon the recipient meeting the conditions of the grant agreement. Grants can finance up to 25 percent of a project's cost, not to exceed $ 500,000 for renewable, $ 250,000 for efficiency.
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