WASHINGTON – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced over $3 billion in new funding from the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) investment passed in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Including today’s announcements, the USDA has now announced over $8.3 billion in New ERA funding, the largest federal investment in rural electricity since the Rural Electrification Act of the 1930s.
$2.5 billion of the new funding will be invested to help deploy 1,040 megawatts of renewable energy and more than 200 megawatts of energy storage in rural communities across Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. The remaining funding of nearly $1 billion will be allocated to six additional rural cooperatives to advance similar clean energy projects.
The following is a statement from Susan Nedell, Mountain West Advocate at E2:
“Combined with new tax credits that are unleashing dozens of major new clean energy projects across Rural America, this historic commitment will attract tens of billions in new private investment—boosting rural economic growth, creating more good-paying clean energy jobs in America’s rural counties, reducing energy costs for rural communities, and strengthening the nation’s electric grid.”
Today’s announcements build on the rural investments being made to build 71 new large-scale clean energy projects in U.S. rural counties. Those projects are expected to create or support more than 88,000 new jobs and add $31.6 billion to rural America’s GDP while under construction in addition to billions more in wages, tax revenue, and continued investment annually once the projects are up and running. For more see E2’s analysis on the direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts of post-IRA clean energy projects two years after its passage.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- E2: Clean Economy Works: An Economic Impact Analysis of Major Clean Energy Projects Announced Through Two Years of the Inflation Reduction Act (Oct. 2024)
- E2: 2024 Clean Jobs America – Interactive Map + Tables (Aug. 2024)
- E2: Clean Economy Works Announcement Tracking – Interactive Map + Tables
- Book: Clean Economy Now Pg 50 and Pg 141-144
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E2 is a national, nonpartisan group of business leaders, investors, and professionals from every sector of the economy who advocate for smart policies that are good for the economy and good for the environment. Our members have founded or funded more than 2,500 companies, created more than 600,000 jobs, and manage more than $100 billion in venture and private equity capital. For more information, see www.e2.org or follow us on Twitter at @e2org.