Rural Energy for America Technical Assistance Grant Deadline Set for August 2023

A Deadline Homeowners Hear About Through Ripple Effects

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS) set August 15, 2023, as the application deadline for fiscal year 2023 funding under the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) Program. Paper applications were due by 4:00 p.m. local time and electronic applications were due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on that date.

Technical Assistance Grants do not go directly to homeowners. Instead, they fund organizations that help agricultural producers and rural small businesses prepare REAP applications. That still matters for rural homeowners because many family farms and home-based rural businesses are eligible for REAP grants to install solar, wind, geothermal, or energy-efficient equipment, and the TAG program makes those applications easier to file and more likely to succeed.

How Much Money Was Available

The FY 2023 REAP TAG round offered $21,250,000 in funding, made available under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The IRA provided more than $2 billion in new funding for REAP through 2031, and the TAG Program is one of the pieces that ensures the broader pool can actually be spent in the communities that need it.

Who Can Receive Technical Assistance Grants

Eligible TAG applicants include land grant and nonprofit colleges and universities, state and tribal governments, and nonprofit organizations that have experience helping small rural businesses with federal grants. The USDA prioritizes:

• Applicants that assist distressed or disadvantaged communities.
• Applicants pursuing projects that use underutilized renewable energy technologies.
• Applicants seeking REAP grants under $20,000, which are typically too small to justify hiring a commercial grant writer.

The priorities are important because they push TAG dollars toward the kinds of small-scale projects that might otherwise fall through the cracks, such as a family orchard installing a modest solar system or a rural bakery upgrading its walk-in cooler.

Why It Matters for Rural Homeowners

Many rural Americans are not strictly homeowners in the suburban sense: they run a farm from the property, operate a home-based rural small business, or work as an independent contractor on land that is both home and workplace. REAP allows these owner-operators to access grants and loan guarantees that cover 25% to 50% of the cost of renewable energy systems and energy efficiency upgrades, depending on project type.

The paperwork for REAP can be difficult to navigate solo. TAG-funded organizations help by:

• Performing energy audits.
• Preparing the technical reports REAP applications require.
• Walking applicants through the online grants.gov submission.
• Following up with USDA state energy coordinators on behalf of applicants.

Looking Ahead

The USDA followed up with a fiscal year 2024 REAP TAG notice of funding opportunity in February 2024, continuing the IRA-backed pipeline. Rural homeowners who missed the 2023 round can work with state-level partners to plan applications for future cycles, and can also apply directly to REAP itself through one of USDA's state Rural Development offices.

In Washington state, for example, the USDA state energy coordinator is Carlotta Donisi, reachable at (360) 704-7724. Similar state contacts are listed on each state's Rural Development page at rd.usda.gov.