SMALL TOWNS, BIG FUTURES:
How Green Energy Drives
Rural Development
Dayton Convention Center
Dayton, OH
February 11, 2011
Tony Logan, State Director
USDA Rural Development
USDA Rural Development Mission
“Engaging the
entrepreneurial spirit of
rural America in the
development of
renewable energy."
Our Structure
Findlay
Massillon
OHIO
OFFICES
USDA
RURAL
DEVELOPMENT
Marietta
Hillsboro
Columbus
United States Department of Agriculture
Rural Development Agency
Rural Utilities Service
• USDA’s economic development goal: sustainable rural communities
• Renewable energy – solar, wind and biomass – will be a multi-generational
driver of rural economic development and jobs in rural areas
• USDA’s Renewable Energy for America Program promotes solar
development in small-town America through Business & Industry grants and
loan guarantees
United States Department of Agriculture
Rural Development Agency
Rural Utilities Service
• Rural Utilities Service has been providing loans for rural utilities for 75 years.
RUS also finances solar projects to generate renewable power for rural
communities
• USDA’s strategic plan calls for increased utilization of rural outdoor resources.
Reclaimed strip mined lands owned by AEP and others are Ohio’s most underutilized outdoor resource.
USDA Rural Development
Program Areas
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Rural Business and Cooperative Programs
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
Rural Housing Programs
Community Development Programs
Rural Business Programs
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Business and Industry Loan Guarantee
Intermediary Relending Program
Rural Economic Development Loans and Grants
Rural Business Enterprise Grants
Value Added Producer Grants
Cooperative Development
Renewable Energy Programs
$100 Million Budget for FY 2010
How Government Incentive Programs
Drive Renewables Development
Rural Energy for America Program (REAP)
• Wind Turbines, Solar Electric, Geothermal,
Anaerobic Digester, Biomass Boiler, Grain
Dryers
• Investment tax credit on renewable energy
projects extended by
President Obama in
December, 2010.
• REAP - $112 million
invested nationally in
projects in 47 states
Ohio REAP Project
Quasar Energy Group (formerly Schmack Bioenergy)
Rural Development awarded Quasar Energy
Group $1.3 million in loan/grant funding from the
REAP. The funding helped cover
construction costs of their new
anaerobic digestion facility in
Wooster, Ohio.
Construction is also under way for a
3,186,000 kwh per year biodigester
for the City of Zanesville scheduled
to go on line in the next 60-90 days.
2008 FARM BILL RENEWABLE ENERGY
PROVISIONS
• Biorefinery Assistance Program - $245 M for
FY 2010
• Loan guarantees for development, construction, retrofitting of
commercial-scale biorefineries. Also funds development and
construction costs for demonstration-scale biorefineries
• Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels $85 M for FY 2010
• Funding supports the expanded
production of advanced biofuels
The Military As Early Adopters
• Recently, the Navy launched the “Green Hornet,” an F/A-18 tactical
attack aircraft powered by a grain-based blend of camelina biofuel
and traditional jet fuel.
• USDA is learning to produce
biofuels from agricultural waste,
and from crops like perennial grasses,
woody plants, algae, energy cane
and camelina that can be grown in
rotation with other crops
• Both the Navy and the USAF have
adopted goals of replacing 50% of their aviation fuels with renewable
bio-fuels by 2025. This will drive adoption of bio-fuel technologies
throughout our economy
Biofuels as a lynchpin of Rural Development
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The Obama Administration’s goal is to more than triple America’s biofuel
production in the next twelve years, cutting oil imports by $41 billion.
Ambitious target – 36 billion gallons by 2022 – and it will mean a growing
market for agricultural producers of corn based ethanol and soy based
biodiesel.
President Obama has committed more than $800 million to help grow
biofuel production and speed the transition to this next generation of
biofuels through his economic stimulus plan, the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act.
USDA is also supporting the development of biofuels from corn stover,
perennial grasses like switchgrass or miscanthus and commercially
cultivated algae.
In November 2010, Secretary Vilsack announced a goal of incenticising
the installation of 10,000 Flex-fuel pumps at gas stations across the
country.
The Integration of Technology and Ecology
• Rural America with its
expanses of open land
will be a big winner
with the construction of
utility-scale renewable
energy projects
• We must be committed
to building this green
energy economy in a
sustainable fashion
Turning Point Solar Array
Likely Elements of the Solar Array
• Utility Scale (up to 49 megawatts)
• Proven Photo-Voltaic technology
• Efficient Multi-Axis Tracking
Unique Aspects of Project
•Rural
•Opportunity to Highlight Ohio’s Emerging Solar Industry
•Opportunity to Generate Permanent Manufacturing Employment
•Opportunity to Train Workers for Green Energy Jobs
•Opportunity to Integrate Mixed Prairie Plant/Carbon Sequestration
Strategies
•Opportunity to Benefit from Federal and State Incentives
•Opportunity to Deliver Solar Energy at a Fair Price to Consumers
Rural Development Columbus Office
(614) 255-2400
Rural Development website
www.rurdev.usda.gov
Tony Logan, State Director
614-255-2390
[email protected]