REAP Grant Scoring – How to Complete a Successful Application
Every year, there’s a limited amount of USDA REAP grant funds available to agricultural producers and rural businesses applying for a REAP grant or loan. The REAP grant scoring criteria is how the Department of Agriculture decides which applications to award.
They consider factors like your projected payback period, the environmental benefits of your project, farm or business location, and how much renewable energy your project will generate.
How many REAP grants get awarded each year?
The number of grants funded depends on two things:
- How many grant applications are submitted
- The total available funds for that submissions period
Hypothetically, assuming the same amount of available REAP grant funds year over year, you could see all applications accepted one year, and many rejected the next. That could happen if the second year saw a huge increase in REAP applications, for example.
The point is — you don’t know how many other REAP grant applications will be submitted the year you’re working on yours. And that’s why you want the strongest possible application for your farm or rural small business. You can find out what makes a strong application by looking at the REAP scoring criteria, which we’ll discuss in detail below.
Eligible renewable energy systems
The REAP (Rural Energy for America Program) has been around in various forms for over 20 years.
Numerous types of renewable energy projects are eligible for USDA REAP grants, from solar to wind to geothermal to many others. In addition, agricultural producers and rural small businesses can apply for grant funds for energy efficiency improvements. So grants are not only for renewable energy generation.
This is important to understand, because if you’re planning to install a solar energy system, your REAP grant application may be considered against a variety of other renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency improvement projects, not just other solar applications.
You’ll have more success navigating the REAP application process if you work with a company that specializes in the type of renewable energy system you’re interested in. Doing it yourself takes far more time and reduces the chances of success.
Ag Solar works exclusively with farms and rural small businesses, and we have to date obtained over $10 million in successful REAP grant applications for our clients, with over a 90% success rate.
So if you’re looking to use solar energy to slash your utility bills and want to reduce your total project costs using a REAP grant, Ag Solar is a great company to work with.
REAP grant scoring
The goal of the USDA REAP scoring criteria is to make sure grant funds are distributed fairly, and to renewable energy projects with the greatest benefits for energy savings and sustainability. In other words, it wouldn’t make sense to give all the funds to a handful of large agricultural producers in one county. They want the REAP grant and loan program to impact farms and rural businesses, and renewable energy systems, across the country.
Here’s the criteria the US Department of Agriculture uses to determine what you receive points for in your application.
Total points
The maximum that each REAP grant application can receive is 100 points. From there, all applications get ranked by their scores, and REAP funding is distributed beginning with the highest ranked applications, continuing down until the grant funding is used up for that submissions period.
Energy generated, saved, or replaced
Available points: 25
As you would expect, this is the most influential of all the REAP scoring categories. How much energy will your renewable energy system or energy efficiency project generate? How much will your project save the electric grid from having to produce?
The more energy saved or generated by your project, the more points your grant application will receive for this category.
Why might this matter? Because when you buy solar panels, you get to decide how many panels you want. For example, you could install enough solar panels to replace about half the energy your farm or rural small business is currently using. Or, you could shoot for a goal of 80%, 90%, or even 100% energy replacement.
From a REAP perspective, it’s worth it to aim higher and install more panels. Will this be more expensive on the front end? Yes, in theory. But if your REAP grant amount gets awarded based on the size of your project, and covers up to 50% of the total project costs, then no, it could actually end up less expensive — even though you get more solar power.
Talk to a qualified agricultural solar consultant to find the “sweet spot” that will give you the best return on investment while maximizing your REAP score and minimizing any liability.
Previous REAP funds
Available points: 15
This is the easiest category of all. If you’ve never received REAP funding before, you get all 15 points, just like that. The Department of Agriculture wants to prioritize their REAP grants for new projects with agricultural producers and rural businesses that are pursuing solar energy and other renewable energy systems for the first time.
So if this is your first time, you have a big advantage over farms or other rural small businesses that may have already been awarded a USDA grant or loan.
Length of payback period
Available points: 15
The sooner you can recover your investment into solar power, the more points you’ll get on your REAP application. This is because the USDA wants to see farms and rural businesses actively benefiting from their program, not being in debt for decades. They’re looking for renewable energy systems that slash energy costs by large percentages for the applicant, because that speeds up the payback period.
At Ag Solar, we’ve had numerous solar power projects with simple payback periods under five years win REAP funding.
Location in a disadvantaged or distressed community
Available points: 15
Sometimes people scoff at this one, and figure they won’t qualify for it because of various reasons. But, you’d be surprised. What matters is how the USDA defines “disadvantaged” and “distressed.” Here’s the map designating what they consider these rural communities to be.
As you’ll notice right away, large portions of the US are categorized as disadvantaged or distressed in one way or another. So yes, you do have a good chance to receive points for this category.
The idea here is, rural communities struggling with economic challenges can use a little boost from the investment and development that solar power and other renewable energy projects can provide.
Commitment of matching funds
Available points: 10
The more funds you can put up front to cover the cost of your renewable energy system, the more points you’ll get for this category. Just like any other loan, the more money you bring to the table the more reliable your project feels to a lender.
And whether you’re getting a REAP grant or loan, the principle is the same. They don’t want to award a grant amount to a proposed project only to find out later the recipient is having cash problems and can’t fund the remaining project costs.
A REAP grant can cover 50% of the total project cost of your solar installation. You can also get a 30% federal tax credit. But, you don’t see that tax credit until the following year when you file your taxes. That means you need to have money upfront to cover the costs of the installation, and you’ll get a big windfall the following year (and up to 21 years more) from the tax credit.
So, if you can show that you have committed and verified matching funds for your project, your REAP application package will be stronger, and you’ll get more points awarded based on this category.
Environmental benefits
Available points: 10
Your REAP grant application can score more points when you can clearly present the environmental benefits of your renewable energy project. For example, can you show the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions your project will produce?
The current scoring rules state that all projects that don’t produce greenhouse gasses receive five points automatically. The other five points depend on meeting five additional sub-criteria:
- Avoiding converting farmland
- Doesn’t cause deforestation, or addresses fire hazards
- Conserves water
- Complies with the EPA’s renewable fuel standards
- At least 25% of the project’s components are bio-based
An experienced grant writer and project installer will know which of these can be met with your solar power system project.
State director administrator points
Available points: 10
Administrator priority points is the criteria over which you have the least amount of control. The state energy coordinator and changes related to each state’s office will vary, and can even change each year. For example, if the project owner is a veteran, you can score extra points in this category.
This is another area where working with a solar installer like Ag Solar works to your advantage. Our REAP application experts keep up with all these changes and details, so you don’t have to.
What are your chances of REAP grant acceptance?
Remember, grant funding is awarded based on the overall rankings and scores from all the applications. So don’t get discouraged if you feel like you won’t receive points in one or two categories. If you can max out the others, you should still have a very strong application package and a high chance of acceptance.
Plus, you can always re-apply during the next submission window, and as mentioned at the start, you never know how many applications were submitted in a given year.
The key is to look at the criteria you can control and aim for the highest possible score in those categories.
Avoid common REAP grant application mistakes
Some things to be aware of before applying for a USDA REAP grant or loan:
Shared meters
One thing that trips up some REAP applications happens when an agricultural producer or rural small business is using the same electric meter as a home. This makes the REAP application process more complicated because not all the power used or generated by the renewable energy system will be going toward the farm or business. Your grant application will do better if you have separate meters.
Rushing the application
Applying for a REAP grant is not something to do on the weekend while watching the game. Take your time. Do the research. Put in the effort. If you have to rush to make the deadline for this submission window, then maybe it’s better to wait until the next one.
Working with Ag Solar will help immensely with this process. Again, as of 2024 we have won over $8 million in successful REAP grants for our clients. Our grant writers know how to create winning applications. We’ve seen what works, and we know how to make a grant application stand out.
If you own a farm or rural small business and want to apply for a REAP and potentially cover 50% of the costs of your solar installation, or up to 75% of it with a REAP loan, work with Ag Solar.
We’ll help you submit the best possible REAP application, and we’ll also help you with your solar installation so you can be sure your solar energy system is being installed by an agricultural solar expert.
