The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is making $410 million available through the Powering Affordable Reliable Technology (PART) Program to shore up power availability in rural areas and enhance the reliability of the nation’s energy grid.
The USDA’s Rural Utilities Services (RUS) will administer the program. Applicants will be able to submit Letters of Interest (LOI) between Sept. 8 and Oct. 9. Those that receive Invitations to Proceed will then have a 60-day window to submit a full loan application.
PART will distribute partially forgivable loans to qualifying projects that develop infrastructure geared to produce renewable forms of energy. These may include producing electricity from hydro, geothermal or biomass sources. Additional investments will be made to support energy storage systems designed to increase the reliability of intermittent renewable energy systems.
RUS will allocate loans between $1 million and $100 million, covering up to 75 percent of total project costs. Recipients will have to pay the remaining 25 percent with either cash or equity investments.
Eligible applicants include:
- For-profit organizations.
- State or local governments.
- Indian tribes.
- Alaska Native Corporations.
- Nonprofits.
- Distribution electric cooperatives and generation and transmission electric cooperatives.
- Certificated electric utilities.
Recipients will be able to use loans to build or upgrade infrastructure needed to bolster energy grid reliability and efficacy. This may include building renewable energy systems or energy storage systems that sell power through a secure agreement, power lines, microgrids, transformers and other equipment.
Additional projects include upgrading existing power lines, equipment, transformers, distribution and transmission facilities, covering interconnection expenses and other power delivery related costs and recovering pre-application expenses. These initiatives must provide energy for resale to residents in the service area.
RUS will offer two distinct types of loans through PART: project loans and system loans.
Project loans support specific projects and must be secured and backed by the project’s assets and generated revenue. System loans are only available to currently operating electric utilities, covering up to 100 percent of project costs if feasible.
Photo by Connor Scott McManus from Pexels
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