Installing solar panels to offset electricity costs helps farms during financial strain. But the House version of the farm bill would limit their use
Twelve years ago, George Hunt needed a new roof on his cow barn in Orange, Massachusetts. Solar was “hot” back then, Hunt said, thanks to federal and state commitments to increase renewable energy supplies.
When Hunt crunched the numbers, he found that adding solar panels to that roof would be a financial boon to his struggling dairy. He applied for a Rural Energy for America Program (Reap) grant from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which covered about a third of the cost; he borrowed the rest and mostly paid that loan off with a solar energy credit he received from the state of Massachusetts. After that, “we didn’t have an electric bill for a decade,” Hunt said. “It was wonderful.”
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