Grants for Hydro Power

Grants for Hydro Power

Maura Bennett
Maura Bennett
The Colorado Ag Department says its program that helps ag producers cut water costs and use water resources efficiently has funding for another round of grants.

Past projects have helped farmers use irrigation water to generate electricity, offsetting some of the cost of power for their farms. Other projects have allowed farmers to run large center-pivot sprinkler systems on hydro-mechanical power without the need for any electricity.

Fourth generation Weld County farmer Jim Park took advantage of 3 separate grants and updated his irrigation system with a turbine 2 years ago.

"One of the nice things about turbines is that they'll last 60 or 70 years with really not a whole lot of maintenance. You have a half a dozen grease points on it that I do that a couple times a month and that's pretty much it.

The funding is part of the Natural Resource Conservation Service Regional Conservation Partnership Program. The total amount of available for this round is $1,300,000.

The CDA accepting applications for the next round of irrigation hydro projects until January 1. For more information and to submit an application, visit the Colorado Department of Agriculture's ACRE3 hydropower website.

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