By Giselle Rhoden
Rural Kentucky farmers are eligible for a federal program that will help fund the cost of clean energy projects.
Under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program, farmers and rural small business owners could receive a grant to fund 50% of the cost of clean energy projects.
The funds can be used for energy production including solar, wind and hydro power, and for energy efficiency improvements on buildings, like lighting, doors, windows and insulation.
Gallrein Farms in Shelbyville received REAP funding this week. The grant, priced at $111,778, will help install more solar panels on the property.
“We'll be able to utilize [the grant] to greater fund projects that we'd like to do at the farm, possibly buy new equipment, upgrade equipment, expand our greenhouses, expand our market, and continue to provide the community as well,” said Gallrein Farm’s manager Gabriella Gallrein.
With the solar panel installation, Gallrein Farms expects to save more than $14,000 a year in energy costs, according to USDA Rural Development State Director Tom Carew.
“[The grant] can really help the bottom line,” Carew said Monday. “It can help reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. And it's a boost to the economy.”
Funding comes from the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act, which supports clean energy initiatives to combat the ongoing climate crisis. Kentucky is becoming hotter and wetter due to climate change induced by the burning of fossil fuels.
Last year, the renewable energy projects funded by the IRA saved Kentucky more than $3 billion, according to a report by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee.
Ken Slattery is an energy consultant for EightTwenty, the Indiana-based solar panel installer for Gallrein Farms. He said the IRA is the reason solar energy is more affordable.
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