Ten Middle Tennessee companies awarded grants to improve energy efficiency, operations

 

August 27, 2008 - BISMARCK, North Dakota, August 27, 2008 —Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer today announced that 639 individuals and businesses in 43 states and the Virgin Islands have been selected to receive $35 million in grants and loan guarantees for renewable energy systems or to improve energy efficiency in farm and business operations. Ten Middle Tennessee recipients will receive $381,827 in grants to lower their cost of doing business through improved energy efficiency.

           

“America is a world leader in renewable energy and energy efficiency,” Schafer said. “These projects are good for business, good for the economy, good for jobs, and they help secure more self-sufficient energy resources for our country.”

 

Nine of the Tennessee recipients are commercial poultry operations in Bedford, Franklin, Lincoln and Marshall Counties. Replacing the aging heating systems will significantly decrease their propane and electricity usage, lowering the operating costs to help the farms stay competitive. Warner Acres, a poultry house in Shelbyville, used a Rural Development grant last year to make similar improvements and has lowered the operation's energy consumption by an estimated 36 percent.

 

Maury County Boosters Corp., d/b/a WMCP 1280 AM in Columbia, TN, is the tenth mid-state recipient. The station will install a more efficient radio transmitter to lower overhead. These grants are expected to cover about one-quarter of the cost of the improvements being made at each business.

 

The grants and loan guarantees are being awarded through USDA Rural Development’s Section 9006 Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements program. The program provides financial assistance to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to support renewable energy projects across a wide range of technologies encompassing biomass (including anaerobic digesters), geothermal, hydrogen, solar and wind energy.  It also provides support for energy efficiency improvements, helping recipients reduce energy consumption and improve operations. Of the $35 million announced today, $27.5 million are grants and $7.4 million are guaranteed loans.

 

Nationwide the funding will support a variety of energy-production and energy-saving efforts.  For example, Chad Brandt of Oakes, N.D., has been selected to receive a $67,374 combination grant and loan to replace his existing grain dryer with a new, more energy-efficient model that is expected to lower energy costs by more than 20 percent.

 

For a complete list of recipients go to: www.rurdev.usda.gov/rd/newsroom/2008/08-27-2008-0996rl.pdf. See below for a list of recipients in Tennessee. Funding of individual recipients is contingent upon their meeting the conditions of the award agreement. 

 

USDA Rural Development is committed to the future of rural communities in Tennessee by investing financial and technical assistance through housing, community and business development programs.  In Fiscal Year 2007 Rural Development assisted more than 600,000 Tennessee families and businesses with more than $308 million in financial assistance through loans and grants.

 

For more information on business development, affordable housing or community facilities programs available in Middle Tennessee, contact the Rural Development Area Office Lawrenceburg at 931-762-6913, ext 4, toll free at 800-342-3149, ext 1494 or visit us online at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/tn.

 

###

 

	Recipient	gRANT	County	purpose
TN	Charles R. & Clark D. Bowling	$33,200	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the Bowling Farm which will greatly enhance energy efficiency and   productivity
TN	Durward & Lorene Blackburn	$31,250	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the Blackburn Farm which will greatly     enhance energy efficiency and    productivity
TN	Earnest & Jeri R. Raney	$33,000	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the    Raney Farm which will greatly    enhance energy efficiency and  productivity
TN	Noukham and Somphone Chanthaphone	$79,706	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the  Chanthaphone Farm which will greatly enhance energy efficiency and  productivity
TN	Robert L. Breeding	$62,367	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the    Breeding Farm which will greatly  enhance energy efficiency and   productivity
TN	Naraeva Poultry Houses	$11,750	Bedford	Retrofitting  broiler houses which will greatly enhance energy efficiency and    productivity
TN	Soulat & Kanyamart Kayasith	$40,629	Marshall	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the Kayasith Farm which will greatly   enhance energy efficiency and    productivity
TN	Maury County Boosters Corporation	$ 6,825	Maury	Replacing transmitter for Radio Station
TN	Jeffrey S. and Cheryl Harris	$50,000	Franklin	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the    Harris Farm which will greatly enhance energy efficiency and productivity
TN	David and Pamela Underwood	$ 33,100	Lincoln	Retrofitting  broiler houses on the Underwood Farm which will greatly     enhance energy efficiency and    productivity