President Biden traveled to Wisconsin today to announce an investment of $7.3 billion in affordable and reliable electricity for rural America through the Inflation Reduction Act. Sixteen rural electric cooperatives across 23 states- including Iowa- will be selected to receive the financing for clean rural energy. This investment will impact approximately 5 million rural co-op members, which represents twenty percent of rural households, farms, businesses, and schools. Whitney Muse, senior policy advisor for clean energy innovation and implementation, said this will also create thousands of rural jobs.
Muse said the clean energy investments include the generation and storage of both solar and wind energy.
Muse also highlighted the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, which provides low-interest loans with up to 60% loan forgiveness to renewable energy developers, rural electric cooperatives, and other rural energy providers for renewable energy storage and projects.
Muse added that Iowa has also been a frequent participant in the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which has invested $2.2 billion in over 7,600 projects across the country.
The Inflation Reduction Act invests nearly $13 billion in rural electricity across multiple programs, which is the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. For more information, visit invest.gov.
