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Success Stories

A mother and three daughters pose around a dining room table. There are lace curtains and blue wall in the background and some dishes on the table in the foreground.

“This is Home” – A Family Finds Their Forever Home in Calais, Maine

One of the first rooms Heather Gagne and her daughters began redecorating in their new home is the dining room, shown in the top photo. They have been busy repainting and making other updates. Raising a family in coastal Machias, Maine may sound lovely, but for Heather Gagne recent years proved stressful. There were few housing options in their Downeast community, and Heather was glad to find a rental home to…
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Use the filters below to find additional stories about how our programs have helped rural communities across the nation.

Search Results: 38 Stories
East Kentucky Power Cooperative generation map

East Kentucky Biomass Landfill Gas Project Expansion

In 2003, East Kentucky Power Cooperative became the first utility in Kentucky to generate its own renewable power when it began operating its first plant fueled by methane gas from landfills.  Today, East Kentucky has five landfill gas plants.  In 2015, RUS approved a… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable Energy
Chad Mortensen outside his variety store

Energy Efficiency Improvements Increase Longevity of Small Business

Chad Mortensen is a third-generation owner and operator of Marion’s Variety shop and restaurant in Roosevelt, Utah. Chad’s great aunt Marion Mortensen opened the business in 1933 after emigrating from Denmark. Over a span of 36 years Marion changed locations along the main road… [Read More]
Renewable EnergyEnergy
Thermal image of a home

Energy Efficiency Loan – Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

The Vermont legislature created an Energy Efficiency Utility named Efficiency Vermont as a full-service utility providing those services to all ratepayers.  Under this structure, utility ratepayers can reduce their energy use by investing in energy improvements for their… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable Energy

Milk Trucks Run on Biofuel Generated from Dairy Operation's Waste

Recognizing the potential for environmental and economic benefits through renewable energy, Fair Oaks Farms in Fair Oaks, Indiana, is producing more than milk from its 11,000 dairy cows. The dairy’s anaerobic digester generates approximately 865 million BTUs of renewable natural… [Read More]
BusinessRenewable Energy
Malcolm Farms

Moorefield Poultry Farm Invests in Solar Power

 The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia has in recent years established a vibrant poultry industry. The typical poultry farmer raises chickens from a young age and to do so, requires a significant amount of heating and energy. Energy costs for a poultry farmer can greatly… [Read More]
REAPRenewable Energy
Solar Panel array

North Carolina Leads in Solar Projects

The RUS Electric Program fosters sustainable and vibrant rural communities by investing in expanding and modernizing the electric infrastructure and revitalizing local economic development by unleashing the benefits of renewable resources and energy efficiency.  In FY 2015… [Read More]
ElectricRenewable EnergySolar Energy
Photo: USDA Rural Business and Cooperatives Administrator Lillian Salerno and Three Rivers Energy employee Erik Chaffer.

Resuscitated biorefinery breathes new life into Ohio town

Erik Chaffer considers himself an optimist. Still, he found himself feeling pretty low as he watched the Great Recession knock the legs out from under the rural Ohio ethanol plant he helped manage. “Everything was pretty good until July 2008. It was just a ‘perfect storm’ type… [Read More]
Renewable Energy

RUS Electric Program Finances Energy Efficiency and Conservation Program Loans

  The RUS Electric Program recently established a loan program to help electric cooperatives reach out to consumers and businesses. In a News Release dated October 23, 2014, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA had funded its first two loans under the… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable EnergyRural Development
R.C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station

RUS Electric Program Finances Hydroelectric Power

Hydroelectric power RUS Electric Program approved $73 million in loan funds to finance ETEC’s R. C. Thomas Hydroelectric Station (R.C. Thomas Station), formally known as the Lake Livingston Hydro-electric Station, located near the City of Lake Livingston in Polk County, Texas.… [Read More]
ElectricEnergyRenewable Energy
Woodville Renewable Energy Woodville, Texas

RUS Electric Program Finances Woody Biomass Power

Biomass RUS Electric Program partnered with borrower, East Texas Electric Cooperative, Inc. (ETEC) in order to fund the recently completed Woodville Woody Biomass Project located near Woodville Texas. Woodville is a 49.9 MW carbon neutral renewable energy facility that will burn… [Read More]
BiomassElectricEnergyRenewable Energy

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