Biden Administration Announces $7.3 Billion Clean Energy Investment for Rural Communities
President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced over $7.3 billion in financing for rural electric cooperatives to support clean energy projects through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, a component of the Inflation Reduction Act. The first round of selected projects (sixteen (16) projects in total) will reduce greenhouse gases by 43.7 million tons annually and will create thousands of jobs while delivering cleaner, more affordable energy to rural communities. Dairyland Power Cooperative, the first finalized award recipient, will leverage nearly $573 million to develop wind and solar projects.