During a hearing of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Rural Development Subcommittee, Cris Somerville, President of Dakota Turbines, testified at the hearing about the work of the family-owned and operated company, which manufactures blades, alternator and power electronics for single-phase small wind systems. The company, which is ten years old, has a small fleet of 40 wind turbines across the Upper Midwest.
In prepared testimony, Somerville cited the importance of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which helps rural small businesses and producers make energy efficiency improvements or install renewable energy systems.
“For a family-owned business in a small town, a USDA loan can make all the difference,” said Cris Somerville, president of Dakota Turbines in Cooperstown. “Without that USDA loan to help my family start our precision machining facility at the get-go, Dakota Turbines wouldn’t exist. Today, Dakota Turbines is 10 years old with a fleet of 40 wind turbines across the Midwest, and 12 full-time employees in Cooperstown. Programs that Senator Heitkamp fought for in the 2014 Farm Bill have incentivized wind power and helped Dakota Turbines succeed, and I’d like to thank her for inviting me to explain how rural development programs make it possible to grow strong businesses that rural communities need.”
Because wind power is a nascent technology, the market relies on federal incentives like the USDA Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for support. REAP has helped Dakota Turbines by providing guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase or install renewable energy systems or make energy efficiency improvements.
The bill authorizes programs that help upgrade and improve rural water systems, invest in expanding rural high-speed Internet, fund loans to consumers to improve energy efficiency through the new Rural Energy Savings Program, and reauthorize several other existing programs that are critical to supporting economic and community development in rural America.
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