Gov. Tony Evers announced in a recent press release that the Evers Administration’s Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy (OSCE) has been selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to move onto the award negotiation stage for the federal department’s Energy Improvement in Rural or Remote Areas program.
President Joe Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included $1 billion in funding for this program aimed at modernizing electric generation facilities, addressing high electricity costs in rural areas, and bolstering economic opportunity in rural areas. The state’s application is one of 17 awards selected nationwide, marking the first step toward securing federal funding for the OSCE’s Resilience and Prosperity in Rural Northern Wisconsin program.
This program plans to support clean energy access in 28 rural communities statewide, developing projects that can serve as replicable models to boost energy resilience, clean energy deployment, and green jobs for rural communities across the state.
Led by the OSCE, in collaboration with the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation’s Office of Rural Prosperity, the Red Cliff Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and Bayfield County, the program will work with utility and renewable partners to install microgrids throughout Bayfield County and on Tribal lands.
OSCE also aims to deploy solar power, battery storage, and smart controls to enable islanding and electric vehicle charging stations. The program will also promote local workforce development, particularly for construction and permanent project jobs; create avenues for meaningful public engagement; provide clean energy education to residents; and convert heavy-duty snow plows from diesel to compressed natural gas, a lower-emission fuel.
