USDA doles out $161K for energy projects
Ten Maine farms and businesses have received more than $160,000 for renewable energy projects. The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program.
USDA Rural Development Undersecretary Dallas Tonsager was on hand at Forage Market in Lewiston yesterday to announce the recipients, according to a press release. Forage Market received $19,275 in grant funding for natural gas and solar hot water system, which are expected to save the store nearly $8,700 a year.
Other recipients of the $161,108:
- Cozy Acres Greenhouses, North Yarmouth, $48,750 for the purchase and installation of a new solar photo-voltaic system and a new geothermal system;
- Inn of Acadia LLC, Frenchville and Madawaska: $33,250 for upgrading its HVAC system to a more energy-efficient system;
- Meadowmere Motel Corp., Ogunquit, $20,000 for the purchase and installation of a solar photovoltaic system;
- Potts Harbor Lobster Inc., Harpswell, $11,750 for the purchase and installation of a solar photo-voltaic system for the lobster wharf;
- Broadturn Farm, Scarborough, $8,062 for the purchase and installation of a renewable energy biomass system;
- LaJoie Growers LLC, Van Buren, $6,612 to replace light fixtures and add light sensors to circulating pumps to reduce energy consumption and cost;
- Hutchings Greenhouse Inc., Eddington, $5,850 for the acquisition and installation of an Envision Series Geothermal Indoor Split Heat Pump system to reduce fossil fuel purchases;
- Long Meadow Farm, Gardiner, $3,854 for the purchase and installation of a solar photo-voltaic system;
- Haley Construction Inc., Sangerville, $3,705 for the purchase and installation of a propane-fired boiler.
Since the first REAP awards were made in 2003, the program has helped more than 13,000 rural small businesses and agricultural producers, and funded more than 1,000 solar projects and more than 560 wind projects nationwide, according to the release.
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