More Funding Opportunities
More Funding Opportunities. I’m Greg Martin as Line On Agriculture presents the Harvest Clean Energy Report.
I have always found it interesting that to do things the “right” way always seems to cost more and involve a bit more effort. Take eating. Grabbing a quick burger, fries and soft drink at the local fast food place takes no effort and not a lot of money. Toss the wrapper and you are done. But to cook at home with fresh foods takes prep time, clean up and can cost a bit more but in the long run, it’s so much better for you. That is the way it is with renewable energy. Paul Kjellander,
KJELLANDER: As far as the proposals that we’ve submitted in relationship to the federal stimulus act that was recently passed, we’re targeting in large part energy efficiency for public schools across the state. Then we’re also setting up some funds for renewable energy projects. They’re not targeted at the agricultural community per se however when you look at renewable resources and where they’re located in the State of
While a lot of those projects will not be ag related Kjellander says there is another funding opportunity for irrigation users.
KJELLANDER: We’ve always had a low interest loan program specifically targeted at irrigation for the agricultural sector and we intend to continue pursuing that aggressively as well as other energy efficiency opportunities within the ag sector itself. So those areas are going to continue to move forward.
Kjellander says there is still a lot of uncertainty from the federal level.
KJELLANDER: We’re moving forward as aggressively as we can but we’re still goig to have to have final approvals from DOE and we still have to have a little more guidance as well from DOE with regards to how the known programs that we’re aware of today will be dealt with.
And exactly how that will fit in with
KJELLANDER: Down the road DOE will have more solicitations available for competitive grants and to that extent we want to work as closely as we can with those in the ag sector to get it and get applications set up and hopefully see some of that money come in to move some of those projects forward.
A little extra prep time and the pay off will be a big win-win for communities and agriculture.
For additional information on clean energy, visit harvestcleanenergy.org. That’s today’s Line On Agriculture. I’m Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
www.harvestcleanenergy.org
