AUSTIN – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are teaming up to help farmers leverage small-scale renewable energy sources and energy-efficiency projects.
Under the Rural and Agricultural Income & Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative, the USDA will help 400 individual farmers deploy small-scale wind projects. The initiative uses $144.5 million from the Underutilized Technology Fund.
The DOE will provide $2.5 million through the Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project (CIP). The CIP funds distributed wind technology development, testing, certification and commercialization.
The DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office will also deliver $1.5 million for research and outreach efforts. These efforts will allow farmers to explore collaborative business models to earn income from distributed wind.
On March 14, the two agencies will host the first webinar in a series to provide an overview of the programs and how to use them for developing place-based wind projects.