There’s a federal grant and loan program available to rural small businesses and farms for renewable energy projects or energy efficiency improvements. Some other states are getting hundreds of millions of dollars. Michigan is not.
From 2018 to last year, Michigan received only $8 million in grants and loans from the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). Compare that to the $137 million that Minnesota got. North Carolina and South Carolina received a combined total of nearly $1 billion. You can see the list of states here.
Brandon Fewins is the state director in Michigan for USDA Rural Development.
He says people in Michigan don’t seem to be aware of the ongoing program making grants and guaranteed loans available for renewable installations and efficiency projects.
“I was at an event with agriculture producers a little while ago. I asked during my portion of the comments how many people were aware of the (REAP) program and, really, only a few hands were raised,” Fewins said.
Of the grants and loans that have gone to rural small businesses or farms in Michigan, the preferred project is solar energy. But there’s a wide variety of projects that REAP will help fund.
Source: michiganradio.org
Photo Credit: istock-shansekala
Categories: Michigan, Energy