By Hope Kirwan
Since taking office, President Donald Trump’s administration has cut many grant programs created by his predecessor.
But a western Wisconsin power cooperative is one of the groups that will maintain its Biden-era funding, which was awarded to help invest in renewable energy projects and transmission infrastructure.
Dairyland Power Cooperative announced Thursday that the Trump administration had “affirmed” its $595 million grant under the the program Empowering Rural America, or New ERA. The La Crosse-based utility was one of 16 rural electric cooperatives awarded a combined $7.3 billion for renewable energy projects through the U.S. Department of Agriculture program.
Former President Joe Biden announced the grant during a trip to Westby in September. He celebrated the New ERA program as the largest investment in rural electric cooperatives since the 1936 New Deal legislation that created them.
In a press release, Dairyland said the cooperative will continue to pursue over 1,000 megawatts from clean energy projects in Wisconsin and neighboring states through a ” streamlined and improved process, and in close collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
“In alignment with President Trump’s policy of unleashing American energy and natural resources, New ERA empowers rural America by allowing Dairyland to diversify resources and finance key transmission projects needed to support growth in rural areas,” Dairyland President and CEO Brent Ridge said in the statement.
The release said planned transmission line upgrades will “ensure a reliable grid to meet growing energy demand and support an all-of-the-above resource portfolio.”
The future of federal grants for clean energy projects has been uncertain since the Trump administration froze funding from the Inflation Reduction Act shortly after taking office. That includes a $62 million grant to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to help low- and moderate-income households access solar power.
“The uncertainty is real. The chaos is real, and to see funding start to go through is a really good thing,” said Amy Barrilleaux, communications director for renewable energy group Clean Wisconsin.
Barrilleaux said her group has also heard from Wisconsin farmers who have received previously frozen funding from the Rural Energy for America program. She said nonprofits and homeowners have also been able to access funds for rooftop solar projects.
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