{"id":13353,"date":"2024-10-11T16:03:27","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T16:03:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13353"},"modified":"2024-10-11T21:28:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-11T21:28:18","slug":"usda-hands-out-93-million-to-wisconsin-businesses-for-renewable-energy-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=13353","title":{"rendered":"USDA Hands Out $93 Million to Wisconsin Businesses for Renewable Energy Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/usda-hands-out-93-million-to-wisconsin-businesses-for-renewable-energy-projects\/tcsquare\/2024\/10\/11\/\">https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/usda-hands-out-93-million-to-wisconsin-businesses-for-renewable-energy-projects\/tcsquare\/2024\/10\/11\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<h5>by Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Boudreaux<\/h5>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded $93 million to Wisconsin business owners to install solar panels and other renewable energy projects in rural pockets across the state.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The grants come after the USDA already allocated $27 million to Wisconsin businesses in June for the same purpose.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThrough the commitment of the Biden-Harris administration, USDA is investing in expanding renewable energy systems in rural communities across Wisconsin,\u201d USDA Wisconsin State Director Julie Lassa said Wednesday. \u201cThis grant funding will invest directly in farmers, business owners, and cooperatives, helping lower energy costs and increase sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The vast majority of the money, $91.5 million, will be allocated to two solar generation projects, one in La Crosse County and one in Dane County.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The project in La Crosse County by Dairyland Power Cooperative will receive $15.6 million to finance 2 megawatts of solar equipment at two sites along with a battery storage system.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u00a0The project in Dane County by Stag Moose Solar LLC will receive $75.9 million to build 22 solar arrays that will produce 62 megawatts of power for use in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, enough to potentially power 16,000 homes.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The remaining $1.5 million, sourced from the Rural Energy for America program, will go to 21 Wisconsin small businesses, including a motel, creamery, tanning supply shop, and chiropractic office.<\/p>\n<p>Having invested more than $3 billion in solar projects across the state, Wisconsin currently has 2,593 megawatts of solar installed, providing just 3.4% of the state\u2019s electricity,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/seia.org\/state-solar-policy\/wisconsin-2\/\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">according to the Solar Energy Industries Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n<p><em>Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Boudreaux is an apprentice reporter covering Michigan and Wisconsin for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/wisconsin\/article_3dcb0092-8723-11ef-9324-8bcdb419efd7.html\" data-wpel-link=\"external\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"external noopener noreferrer\">The Center Square<\/a> under the mentorship of Midwest Regional Editor J.D. Davidson. Her work focuses on election-related news in these two states. Previously, she interned at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se graduated with a major in politics from Hillsdale College in May of 2024, where she produced award-winning radio journalism.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/usda-hands-out-93-million-to-wisconsin-businesses-for-renewable-energy-projects\/tcsquare\/2024\/10\/11\/\">USDA Hands Out $93 Million to Wisconsin Businesses for Renewable Energy Projects<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\">The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/usda-hands-out-93-million-to-wisconsin-businesses-for-renewable-energy-projects\/tcsquare\/2024\/10\/11\/ by Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Boudreaux \u00a0 The U.S. Department of Agriculture&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13353"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13354,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13353\/revisions\/13354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}