Biden Administration Makes $11 Billion Available for Clean Energy Development in Rural America
The White House announced the opening of two programs designed to distribute $11 billion in grants and loan opportunities to various stakeholders, including rural electric cooperatives, for investment in clean energy resources. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Empower Rural America program will provide $9.7 billion for rural electric cooperatives and its Power Affordable Clean Energy program will make $1 billion available to cooperatives and other renewable-energy developers and providers. The combined investment in clean energy is the largest such federal intervention in rural communities since the Rural Electrification Act in 1936.