Clean Energy EXPO 2023: Clean Energy Opportunities in Rural Communities

The 26th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucus serving as honorary co-host. It featured six panels, including Clean Energy Opportunities in Rural Communities.

Highlights

Jaime Jackson, Senior Advisor for the Rural Utilities Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

• The Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program offers $1 billion for renewable energy projects that serve rural communities. The application window opened on July 10 and offers loan forgiveness ranging from 20 to 60 percent.
• The Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program allocates $9.7 billion for rural electric cooperatives and existing Rural Utilities Service borrowers to generate renewable energy at affordable rates.
• The Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) provides loan guarantees to producers and small businesses to make use of biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, and wave energy. The program can also connect businesses with energy efficiency upgrades.
• The USDA plans to develop and release a cross-agency pocket guide by the end of 2023 to help rural electric utilities and related organizations better navigate the current high volume of federal funding opportunities.

Carrie Annand, Executive Director, Biomass Power Association (BPA)

• Biomass power consumes organic materials that are otherwise unusable, such as tree limbs, nutshells, and orchard prunings.
• Organic material is plentiful in rural areas that are forested or farmed. Members of the Biomass Power Association typically source fuel from within 75 miles of their facility.
• Over the past 10 to 15 years, the biomass industry has struggled to compete with the lower prices of other clean energy industries.
• Biomass already indirectly fuels electric vehicles, making it eligible for Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard Program. The inclusion of the biomass industry in the program could help to stabilize the industry.

Keith Dennis, President, Beneficial Electrification League (BEL)

• Electrification has continuously improved our quality of life. The new wave of electric technologies, such as electric vehicles and space and water heaters, are a natural continuation of beneficial electrification.
• Improvements to infrastructure for electricity distribution tend to be overlooked, with attention and funding often landing on end-use technologies. Accessible funding for infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is necessary for widespread electrification.
• Despite an increased number of federal programs for electric infrastructure updates, such as the Department of Energy’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program, rural utilities and communities often do not have the capacity to search for and apply to opportunities. They need hands-on technical support while navigating the application process.
• Urban areas tend to outcompete rural areas for federal funding, highlighting the need for increased funding access and technical capacity-building for rural areas.

Aaliyah Nedd, Director of Government Relations, National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA)

• Cooperatives are democratically owned and governed, helping them to provide benefits directly to their communities and avoid extractive practices.
• Rural electric cooperatives now power more than 42 million households, 92 percent of persistent poverty communities, and 56 percent of the landmass of the United States.
• The average energy burden (the percentage of household income spent on energy costs) is 4.4 percent in rural areas, compared to 3.3 percent nationally. This rate increases to 9 percent for low-income households in rural areas, and is even greater for Black and Indigenous communities in rural areas.
• Facilitating collaboration at the local and regional level is key to advancing rural clean energy and energy efficiency efforts.
• Rural electric cooperatives rely on the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) to be able to offer affordable energy efficiency upgrades to their customers. The upcoming Farm Bill presents an opportunity to extend and improve the program.

Compiled by Mariko Yatsuhashi and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.