The Agriculture Department’s Rural Utilities Service is making $410 million in partially forgivable loans available for electric cooperatives and other eligible entities through the new Powering Affordable Reliable Technology program to support affordable, reliable energy infrastructure, increase rural power supply and strengthen electric grid resilience. 

The loans can go toward construction of hydropower, geothermal and biomass projects as well as energy storage projects that can back up intermittent renewable power facilities. They can also cover new or upgraded electric transmission and distribution lines and equipment, such as microgrids, associated with those projects. 

The new program stems from the authority and unobligated funds of the Powering Affordable Clean Energy program created through the Inflation Reduction Act. 

“This is another great opportunity from RUS for electric cooperatives to diversify their energy portfolios by adding generation and/or storage to bring costs down while improving electric reliability,” NRECA Regulatory Affairs Director Luke Theriot said. 

Individual PART awards can range from $1 million to $100 million, with maximum loan forgiveness of 40%. The awards can cover up to 75% of project costs, although RUS has the authority in certain circumstances to cover as much as 100% of costs in substantially underserved areas. 

Co-ops interested in applying for funding can attend a series of public webinars on the PART program that the Agriculture Department started hosting on Aug. 5 and will run through Sept. 2. RUS will accept letters of interest from co-ops and other applicants from Sept. 8 until Oct. 9. 

More information on PART can be found on the Agriculture Department’s program website. 

“This funding is widely available and accepted on a first-come, first-processed basis, so we encourage electric cooperatives that are interested to have their letters of interest ready to submit as soon as the funding window opens,” Theriot said.