The US Department of Agriculture is administering two new programs, New Empowering Rural America (New ERA) and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE), that will provide $10.7 billion in grants and loans to rural electric cooperatives to cut greenhouse gas emissions and make energy more affordable and accessible. The New ERA program has $9.7 billion available in grants or loans of up to 10% of that total per applicant, while the PACE program has $1 billion available for low-interest loans, with up to 60% of the loan amounts forgivable by the federal government. Cooperatives can choose from a range of technologies and financial options to qualify for the funds.

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