§918c Rural and Remote Communities Electrification Grants

Summary

Grants may be given to help rural communities improve or build electric systems. Eligible recipients are local governments, municipalities, people’s utility districts, irrigation districts, and small cooperative, nonprofit, or limited-dividend associations located in places with 10,000 people or fewer. Key terms: "incremental hydropower" is extra power from a dam after January 1, 2005; "renewable energy" is electricity from renewable sources or hydrogen made from renewables; "renewable energy sources" include eight types such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, ocean waves, landfill gas, livestock methane, and incremental hydropower. The Secretary, after consulting with the Agriculture and Interior Secretaries, can fund projects that either make systems more efficient or upgrade lines, or that provide or modernize electric generation serving rural areas. Grants must be chosen for cost-effectiveness and split equally each year between the two goals. When funding generation projects, priority goes to renewable energy. Congress authorized $20,000,000 per year for fiscal years 2006 through 2012.