US to spend $7.3 billion on rural clean energy projects

By Leah Douglas

(Reuters) - President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday said the U.S. will spend $7.3 billion from 2022's Inflation Reduction Act to fund clean energy projects helmed by rural electric cooperatives.

The 16 funded projects will reduce energy costs and increase reliability for rural Americans, who tend to pay more for energy, the White House said.

The first project will allocate nearly $573 million to Dairyland Power Cooperative in La Crosse, Wisconsin, for four solar installations and four wind power installations in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois.

"One in five rural Americans will benefit from these clean energy investments, thanks to partnerships with rural electric cooperatives like Dairyland. Put simply, this is rural power, for rural America," said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement.

The projects, funded by the IRA's Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, will prevent more than 43 million tons of greenhouse gas pollution annually and support more than 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs, the White House said.

Rural electric cooperatives serve 42 million people, according to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.

The administration in August said it was investing $2.2 billion in overhauling the nation's power grid, which has been pressured by extreme weather events even as data centers demand more power.

Biden was set to announce the funding in Westby, Wisconsin, on Thursday alongside Vilsack.

(Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by David Gregorio)