The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Energy have launched an initiative aimed at helping farmers access additional income through small-scale renewables technologies, particularly wind energy projects.
The new Rural and Agricultural Income and Savings from Renewable Energy (RAISE) initiative maintains an initial goal of helping 400 farmers deploy small-scale wind projects, made possible by a $144 million grant from the Inflation Reduction Act. The DOE has reportedly discovered advanced distributed wind technologies that have opened a market opportunity for cost-effective investment in agricultural and rural communities.
Other renewable energy projects to be supported through the program include small-scale hydropower, geothermal, and biomass-based energy, to name a few.
The USDA and DOE have also established a joint working group to oversee the projects following an existing memorandum of understanding between the departments. The DOE’s Wind Energy Technologies Office will also take the lead in supporting the development of business models for farmers to earn income from these renewables projects, including establishment of farm associations that may create fee-for-service models.
The DOE is providing $1.5 million for research and outreach to support development of such business models and is also calling for proposals for up to $2.5 million under the Distributed Wind Competitiveness Improvement Project, supporting domestic manufacturers of small- and medium-sized wind turbines.
Incorporation of renewable energy projects on agricultural land represents a broader economic trend -- since both farming and renewable energy typically require large expanses of land, creating projects that accommodate both may avoid potential land-use conflicts with a mutually-beneficial solution.
Incorporation of small-scale wind turbines on farms has been found to generate energy without impacting farmers' ability to plant crops and raise livestock. Farmers are also increasingly benefitting from the development of solar projects on farmland, or agrivoltaics, which may similarly generate clean energy without interfering with agricultural operations.
Particularly as agricultural communities tend to be more remote, such renewables projects may also act as an additional energy source for farmers, especially in the case of power outages.
“There is a huge opportunity to power the American heartland with distributed wind resources, and President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is tapping into that potential so that all Americans can reap the benefits of the clean transition,” said Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm. “DOE is raising the bar with our partners at USDA -- creating jobs, lowering costs and increasing energy independence for farmers and those in rural communities.”
