NH clean energy leaders worry about federal support

Regional clean energy leaders speak with U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, right, in a recent U.S. Senate hearing at UNH Manchester. From left to right: Sarah Waring of USDA Rural Development; Sam Evans-Brown of Clean Energy NH; Dan Weeks of Revision Energy; and Melissa Florio of Ambix Manufacturing. (Photo by Trisha Nail)

New Hampshire is still starting its energy transition journey, Revision Energy co-owner Dan Weeks says. From his perspective and those of others in the energy sector, it isn’t without state and federal government support through initiatives like REAP that the industry is heading into a more sustainable future.

REAP (the Rural Energy for America Program) offers agricultural producers and small businesses in rural settings grants up to 50% of total project costs and guaranteed loan financing up to 75% of total cost, according to the USDA’s Office of Rural Development, the program’s managing agency. The program’s final deadline for Fiscal Year 2024 is Sept. 30, but the Inflation Reduction Act provides additional funding for at least three years.

Weeks and other figures at the forefront of the Granite State’s clean energy sector tout the program’s benefits, but with the number of applicants growing each year, they wonder whether REAP can accommodate the demand within the next few years.

“Federal REAP grants … have been crucial to solar adoption by small businesses, especially farms and other rural business that often lack the tax ‘appetite’ to monetize the ITC and depreciation,” Weeks wrote in a prepared statement for a U.S. Senate field hearing, referencing the Section 48 Investment Tax Credit. Through the ITC, the IRS and Treasury offer a tax credit to property entities formed after 2022 that feature renewable energy equipment.

The field hearing, held at UNH Manchester on Friday, Sept. 13, was convened by the Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, which U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen chairs. It included a panel of Weeks; USDA Rural Development’s Sarah Waring; Sam-Evans Brown, executive director of Concord-based nonprofit Clean Energy NH; and Melissa Florio, president of Albany, NH, custom injection molding and plastic engineering company Ambix Manufacturing.

In the past five years, REAP has invested $1.3 billion toward strengthening rural business in New Hampshire and Vermont, according to Waring. She said the funding has provided housing to more than 3,400 families, supported 570 businesses and helped build and maintain 260 municipal facilities, schools and hospitals between the two states. Some support has come from REAP’s Technical Assistance Grants, which prioritize REAP applicants that either request grants totaling less than $20,000, use the money to assist distressed or disadvantaged communities, or fund projects that include underutilized technology.

In New Hampshire, applications for Technical Assistance Grants have continually increased — there were 26 applications in 2022, 54 last year and 84 this year as of the hearing, Waring said. Those 84 applicants are requesting $21 million in energy improvements and projects, which she stressed is causing strain on the regional USDA Rural Development office’s employees.

“REAP is one of dozens of other business, housing and utility programs our agency offers that can address energy costs and the energy transition,” Waring said in an opening statement to Shaheen at the hearing. “Accommodating and adapting to our increased portfolio, both in a number of programs as well as changes in these program funding levels, has been incredibly difficult for our small staff.”

In December 2023, Ambix Manufacturing successfully received one of those REAP grants, which the business used to begin building a renewable energy system on its property in collaboration with Revision. The system uses 142 solar panels and up to 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity and went live this summer, according to Ambix’s Florio in testimony written before the hearing.

Through the panels, Florio said the company anticipates offsetting 55-60% of its total power consumption.

“If we’re running all our machines and auxiliaries, it’s about 65% that we’re able to just run on the renewable energies,” she said in response to a question from Shaheen. “If we’re running half, all of that (power) is under our umbrella.”

Asked by Shaheen how Ambix’s staff might advise other companies outside the energy sector on saving money, Florio said businesses should connect with state and federal entities through events like the hearing, which featured a networking component after its conclusion.

“That is how we learned years ago about an energy-efficient analysis that could be done on our plant,” she said, showing gratitude for the help the company received from Revision and government agencies. “… They will take the time to explain the programs to you. It’s just getting over the hurdle of being a small business owner asking for help.”

For businesses in that position, Sam Evans-Brown explained that Clean Energy NH does help Granite State small businesses — often those with few management positions or a single owner-operator — learn about what agencies to ask or what funding to seek through a basic intake form. Then businesses compile their electric bills to determine savings.

“Depending on the type of project they’re pursuing, often the next step is to get an energy audit done,” he said, adding that the state’s Community Development Finance Authority can supply 75% of the cost of an audit, up to $6,000.

“Then, you get your scope of work that says, ‘Here’s your target list of the lowest-hanging fruit; let’s go find matchmake with the various funding streams available and find the best path forward for you.’”

In his prewritten testimony, Evans-Brown advocated for REAP but noted the program’s shortcomings. Those include funding limitations for more applicants that he says are connected to the provision to cover grant allowances of up to 50% of project costs, which the Inflation Reduction Act increased from 25%.

He also states it may take applicants 6-9 months to learn whether or not they received a grant or loan — all while seasons pass and infrastructure ages — and repeated failure to fund priority smaller projects costing less than $80,000.

Still, Evans-Brown notes that REAP has “achieved remarkable success across the state” and that it’s a more preferable avenue for weatherization than local electric and gas coalition NHSaves, which offers commercial rebates for energy work.

This story has been updated to correct information about the percentage of grant funds allowed toward the total cost of a project through the Rural Energy for America Program.