REAP Grants to Fund Energy Audits and Assistance for Farms and Rural Businesses

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) plans to make some $2.4 million in grant funds available to state, tribal and local government, land-grant colleges or universities, rural electric cooperatives, and public power entities to help farmers and rural businesses cut energy waste and develop clean energy production.

“Community-based renewable energy projects can produce big benefits,” according to Julie Curti and Justin Goetz in their article “Rewards of Ownership” in a recent issue of Rural Cooperatives Magazine, published by U.S. Department of Agriculture.

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

President Obama signs American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Now that Congress has passed and President Obama has signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, how will this help to stimulate Community Wind projects? According to Denise Bode, American Wind Energy Association CEO, "the stimulus bill contains a number of provisions aimed at helping our industry continue the very strong growth in new installations and new jobs we have seen over the past few years."

ITC Holdings Corp. has worked to develop the Green Power Express, a network of transmission lines that would facilitate the movement of 12,000 MW of power from the wind-abundant areas in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa to Midwest load centers, such as Chicago, southeastern Wisconsin, Minneapolis and other states that demand clean, renewable energy.

The United States wind industry created 35,000 new jobs in 2008, according to a news report by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). 85,000 workers are now employed in the wind industry including jobs in manufacturing, development, construction, installation, operation, and maintenance.

As a part of Xcel Energy’s Community-Based Energy Development (C-BED) program, Xcel Energy is soliciting proposals for Community Based Wind Projects.

National Farmers Union (NFU) expressed support for Sen. Chuck Grassley’s, R-Iowa amendments, that would make permanent the wind production tax credit (PTC), and urged the committee to support Grassley’s efforts.

The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) announced yesterday that in 2008 alone over 8,000 MW of wind energy was installed. This increased the nation's wind energy capacity by 50% and created an investment of $17 billion into the economy.

The South Dakota Wind Energy Association (SDWEA) elected a Board of Directors, named an Executive Director and set goals for 2009 at its first official meeting on January 13.

Due to increasing interest in renewable energy and residential-sized wind turbines, this three-day workshop is being offered to provide an opportunity to learn the ins and outs of small wind project development. The timeliness of this workshop complements the growing demand and interest in renewable energy.