USDA Rural Energy for America Program Applications Deadline for Round 1

I am pleased to announce our first deadline for funding under the Rural Energy for America Program. The deadline for this first round of funding will be December 31, 2010. For general information on the program please see the attached brochure.

As stated earlier this will be the first of three rounds of funding for this program. All applications received before this date will be set aside and given first priority for state allocation funds once they become available next year. Once we’ve exhaust state allocation funds, we will submit all remaining requests to the National Office for funding. Part of the reason we have moved to funding rounds, as opposed to one deadline, is to make our applications more competitive on the National Office level. By receiving applications in rounds we not only have time to process them, but give ourselves more time to assist applicants before they submit.

This last summer USDA Rural Development was able to provide support for many energy projects across the country. Our agency delivered over $155 million dollars ($83 million in grants and $72 million in guaranteed loans) to small businesses and agriculture producers. These projects have a street value of over $400 million dollars.

On a state level, our Alaska office received 40 applications requesting over $1.8 million in funding. Of those 40 we were able to provide $250,000 in grant funds to 16 applicants (which represented over $1 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects).

Our office received a wide range of applications using various renewable technologies. Technologies such as geothermal, anaerobic digestion, solar, hydro, and others were among the applications we received. Some of the most successful applications were those focused on energy efficiency. Our agency would like to emphasize that we encourage energy efficiency as a first step before renewable installations. This is evidenced by our policy of accepting two applications in one fiscal year, one for energy efficiency and the other for renewable energy.

Lastly, we have done our best to streamline the application process by developing templates for our applicants. Please respond to this email in order to request a template. You will be provided with the appropriate template and accompanying paperwork for your specific technology.

Please feel free to contact me should you have questions or like to discuss the Rural Energy for America Program application.

J. Chad Stovall
Business & Energy Programs Specialist
USDA Rural Development | Alaska State Office
800 W. Evergreen, Ste 201 | Palmer, AK 99645
Phone: (907) 761-7718 | Fax: (907) 761-7793
chad.stovall@ak.usda.gov