Clean Energy EXPO 2024: Rural and Tribal Communities

The 27th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured seven panels, including Rural and Tribal Communities.

Highlights

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

• U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development’s loan and grant programs help to support jobs and the construction and maintenance of power systems. The programs indirectly support economic development by increasing access to clean, affordable, and reliable electricity.
• The USDA Equity Commission’s Subcommittee for Rural Community Economic Development makes actionable recommendations to modify programs, systems, and policies in order to reduce disparities and advance racial justice and equity for underserved communities.
• Two new USDA programs funded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) (L. 117-169), the $1 billion Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program and the $9.7 billion Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, are working to invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and electrification in rural America based on Community Benefits Plans.
• Within the last six months, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack announced over $450 million in PACE awards to projects including battery energy storage systems, solar arrays, and hydroelectric plants.

Raymond RedCorn, Lead Policy Analyst, Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

• The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Indian Energy Policy and Programs submitted a Tribal Electricity Access and Reliability report to Congress in 2023, highlighting energy struggles in tribal communities. An estimated 16,000 homes still lack access to electricity, and the average energy burden of native households is 28% higher than the U.S. average. Tribal communities also experience about 6.5 times more power outages than the average U.S. community.
• The Rural Electrification Act of 1936, even as it has been amended over time, does not account for tribes. Historically, tribal communities have not had much control over their energy infrastructure or ownership in the development of energy generation projects.
• DOE is working to support tribes in asserting their sovereignty and energy independence: the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations awarded $78 million to energy access projects in rural and remote communities, nearly half of which was allocated to tribal nations; the Grid Deployment Office’s Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) program is providing formula funds to tribes to bolster the resilience of their power grids; the Office of State and Community Energy Programs is now awarding funds to tribes for Home Electrification and Appliance Rebates; and the Loan Programs Office recently awarded its first loan guarantee to a tribe.

Doug O'Brien, President and CEO, National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA)

• Federal policy should focus on increasing access to energy infrastructure and affordability for rural communities.
• According to the USDA Economic Research Service, poverty is decreasing in rural places, but is still significant. Eighty-five percent of the persistent poverty counties in the United States are located in rural places.
• Rural communities have lower budget and staff capacity. Intermediaries like rural electric cooperatives play an important role in educating households and businesses and helping them apply for funding.
• Credit unions, particularly community development financial institutions, are increasingly looking to do work in rural and lower-resourced communities.

Keith Dennis, President, Beneficial Electrification League (BEL)

• Using electricity for higher-performance products provides an improved quality of life, with the co-benefits of saving consumers money and reducing emissions. All scenarios to a lower-carbon future involve increased use of electricity.
• The Beneficial Electrification League (BEL) has assisted with $8 billion worth of applications to the USDA’s PACE and New ERA programs. Other projects BEL has been involved with include DOE’s GRIP, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) program, and Energy Future Grants BEL also works with the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
• Technical assistance provided by intermediary groups is necessary to help communities access and navigate federal grants.

Jason Cooke, Legislative Affairs Director, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA)

• Electric cooperatives are private, independent, not-for-profit electric utilities that are owned by the communities they serve and provide at-cost electric service.
• There are about 900 electric cooperatives in the United States and they cover 92% of the nation’s persistent poverty counties. Compared to other utilities, electric cooperatives often serve areas with lower population density, lower incomes, and higher costs of electricity delivery.
• The passage of the IRA gave electric cooperatives access to tax credits for new energy technologies, beginning a new chapter of their relationship with the federal government.
• The USDA’s Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) helps rural electric cooperatives support their members in reducing their energy bills through energy efficiency and renewable energy home retrofits. RESP allows for a cooperative to take out a zero-interest loan from the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service. The cooperative then loans the money to its members, and often cooperatives work with members so they can pay back the loan through a line item on their utility bill.

Compiled by Ainsley Ogletree and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.

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