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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it will send approximately$4.4 billion of loans and grants to rural electric cooperatives around the country as part of the agency's Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program.
The clean energy funding, according to the USDA, will go towards projects that will create "thousands of jobs," lower customers' electricity and reduce pollution by "millions of tons each year."
The New ERA program, available only to member-owned rural electric cooperatives, is ‘funded through 2022's federal Inflation Reduction Act’ and aims to create more economic opportunities and improve the quality of life for those living in America's rural, tribal and high-poverty areas through infrastructure projects; business development; housing initiatives and other local improvements.
TheSan Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc., based in Christine, Texas, will receive more than $1.4 billion of loans and grants for 600 megawatts (MW) of renewable energy - solar voltaic panels and a battery energy storage system, the USDA said.
This system will provide low-cost, reliable power to 47 rural South Texas counties, helping to "alleviate system constraints and ease transmission congestion," the agency said.
Inflation reduction act trying to power up rural America.