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USDA grants $2M for renewable energy in former Bennett Freeze

(David McNew/Getty Images)

The Biden administration has allocated nearly $2 million to bring renewable electricity to a hundred homes on the Navajo Nation.

The project will install stand-alone solar-voltaic systems with battery storage capacity in the former Bennett Freeze.

For decades the area’s residents were barred from making even simple improvements to their homes because of a land dispute and it’s one of the poorest areas on the reservation.

Officials say the project will provide long-term energy security to Indigenous communities, low-income households including elders and veterans.

It’s part of four awards totaling more than $6.5 million recently announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy Pilot Program that aims to address high energy costs and pollution through wind, solar and technologies.