USDA Funding to Ease Application Process for Clean Energy Projects

By Terri Dee

Indiana will soon get a dedicated person to help farmers, ranchers and other landowners apply for federal grants to help fight pollution and climate change.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it would hire 40 individuals as Climate Change Fellows. They will be assigned to Indiana and other states to help people apply for the Rural Energy for America Program, which has $2 billion in funding for clean-energy projects.

Anthony Kirkland, director of business and cooperative programs at the USDA's Rural Development office in Indianapolis, said Indiana's Fellow will have specific tasks.

"Helping to provide guidance to the grant recipient, or to the grant writer," Kirkland outlined. "They'll also be helping with evaluating the process of an application and helping with monitoring, making recommendations, providing advice to the coordinator."

USDA officials said they saw a need to hire the Climate Change Fellows after seeing an increase in applications. Kirkland noted in Indiana, just one person is processing more than 60. The program is part of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

The funding is expected to help transform rural power production, with new energy sources through net metering and power purchase agreements.