March 6 , 2008

APPLY NOW: Federal Grants Up to $500K Available for Rural Businesses' Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Projects

From the Federal Register:

Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), an Agency within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development, announces it is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2008 to purchase renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements for agriculture producers and rural small businesses in eligible rural areas. Funding will be available in the form of grants and loan guarantees. In addition to stand-alone grants and loan guarantees, applicants may apply for combination loan guarantee and grant funding (combination package).

For renewable energy systems, the minimum grant is $2,500 and the maximum is $500,000. For energy efficiency improvements, the minimum grant is $1,500 and the maximum is $250,000. Funding for grant and loan combination packages will be funded from the same allocation as loan guarantees. Fifty percent of the appropriated grant funding will be reserved for the first grant-only competition. Any unused grant only funds from the first competition will be made available for the second grant-only competition.

The maximum amount of a guarantee to be provided to a borrower will be $10 million. For FY 2008, the guarantee fee amount is 1 percent of the guaranteed portion of the loan and the annual renewal fee is 0.250 percent (one quarter of one percent) of the guaranteed portion of the loan.

For FY 2008, the following are the funds provided by Congress for the Section 9006 program: For grants, $15,888,000, and for loans, $204,953,560.

DATES: The USDA will issue one grant solicitation for two separate competitions in FY 2008. Competitive deadlines will occur in accordance with deadlines as follows:

Grants
For the first competitive window, complete (see 7 CFR 4280.111) grant-only applications, must be submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office no later than April 15, 2008. For the second competitive window, complete (see 7 CFR 4280.111) grant-only applications must be submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office no earlier than April 16, 2008, and no later than June 16, 2008. Applications submitted under the first competition that are not selected will automatically be considered under the second competition, using the materials and score from the first competition (i.e., no changes to scored applications will be accepted). It is anticipated that two grant award announcements will be made. The first announcement is anticipated prior to June 16, 2008, and the second, prior to September 16, 2008.

Guaranteed Loans
Complete guaranteed loan applications will be accepted and processed, until June 16, 2008, in a rolling application manner. Applications for loan guarantees must be completed and submitted to the appropriate USDA Rural Development State Office no later than June 16, 2008. No application received in the State Office after June 16, 2008, will be considered.

Combination Packages
Complete combination packages will be accepted and processed, until June 16, 2008. Once funds become available, combination packages will be evaluated on a bi-weekly basis. Combination applications must be completed and submitted to the appropriate USDA
Rural Development State Office no later than June 16, 2008. No application received after June 16, 2008, will be considered.

Any unused funding as of August 15, 2008, may be pooled and revert to grant money. All submissions must bereceived at the applicable office by 4:30 p.m. local time on the deadline date. The application closing deadlines for grant, loan guarantee, and combination packages are firm.

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