MOCAP LLC is Receives a $866,520 Grant to Install Three Solar Arrays

To Help Rural Business Owners, Farmers, and Ranchers Lower Energy Costs, Generate Income, and Expand Operations

COLUMBIA, Mo., Sept 6, 2023 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and Missouri State Director Kyle Wilkens announced today $9.5 million in grants to agricultural producers and small rural businesses for renewable energy efficiency improvements that will lower their energy costs, generate new income, and strengthen their business operations. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act partly made this funding opportunity possible. This is the nation’s largest investment in combating the climate crisis and has helped USDA with $1.3 billion available to agriculture producers and businesses since December 2022.

“I am thrilled to announce that Missouri is receiving nearly $9.5 million in grants to help our Agriculture producers and businesses across the Missouri part of President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act,” Wilkens said. “This funding opportunity will help create jobs, increase revenues, save energy costs, and much more to well-deserved farmers, ranchers, and small rural businesses to strengthen and expand their day-to-day business operations."

The funding announced today advances President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, a key pillar of Bidenomics, to grow the American economy from the middle-out and bottom-up – from rebuilding our nation’s infrastructure to driving over $500 billion in private sector manufacturing and clean energy investments in the United States, to creating good-paying jobs and building a clean-energy economy that will combat climate change and make our communities more resilient.   

Projects in this announcement include:

• MOCAP, LLC is receiving a $866,520 grant to help a plastics and rubber manufacturer in Park Hills, Missouri, install three separate solar arrays. This project is expected to save $101,391 per year. It will generate 1,768,759 kilowatt hours (kWh) (47 percent of the company's energy use) per year which is enough energy to power 163 homes.
• Empire Comfort Systems, Inc. is receiving a $388,088 grant to a heating equipment manufacturer in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, to install an 850-kW solar array. This project is expected to save $100,927 per year. It will generate 1,077,579 kilowatt hours (kWh) (56 percent of the company's energy use) per year which is enough energy to power 99 homes.
• Andrews Farm & Seed, Inc. is receiving a $158,400 grant to an agricultural seed production business in Carthage, Missouri, to install a 280-kW solar array. This project is expected to save $37,487 per year. It will generate 356,813 kilowatt hours (kWh) (44 percent of the company's energy use) per year which is enough energy to power 32 homes.

Background: Inflation Reduction Act

As a core pillar of Bidenomics and the President’s Investing in America agenda, the Inflation Reduction Act makes the largest investment in climate action in history and is lowering energy costs, bringing opportunity to communities across America, and tackling the climate crisis through investments in agriculture, forest restoration, and rural communities.

The Biden-Harris Administration championed the Inflation Reduction Act to help provide new funding and unprecedented incentives to expand clean energy, transform rural power production, create jobs, and spur economic growth. It is the largest single investment in rural electrification since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936.

Through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Administration is delivering on its promise to fight climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across America.

It provides funding to USDA Rural Development to help eligible organizations invest in renewable energy infrastructure and zero-emission systems and make energy-efficiency improvements that will significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

It will boost the long-term resiliency, reliability, and affordability of rural electric systems. It will help families save money on utility bills, and it will expand rural opportunities in the clean-energy economy.

For more information about, please visit: Rural Energy for America Program Renewable Energy Systems & Energy Efficiency Improvement Loans & Grants in Missouri | Rural Development (usda.gov)  
 
Contact USDA Rural Development
Information on programs available through USDA Rural Development is available by visiting www.rd.usda.gov/mo, by calling (573) 876-0976, or by emailing RDMissouri@usda.gov.

Stay current by following @RD_Missouri on Twitter.

USDA Rural Development has 25 offices across the state to serve the 2.2 million residents living in rural Missouri. Office locations include a state office in Columbia, along with local offices in Butler, Charleston, Chillicothe, Clinton, Dexter, Eldon, Farmington, Higginsville, Houston, Kennett, Kirksville, Maryville, Mexico, Moberly, Neosho, New London, Poplar Bluff, Richmond, Rolla, Sedalia, Springfield, St. Joseph, Troy, and West Plains.

If you’d like to subscribe to Missouri USDA Rural Development updates, visit our GovDelivery subscriber page.

Photo: By Pinosub