Powering Affordable Reliable Technology Program

What does this program do?

The Powering Affordable Reliable Technology (PART) Program supports affordable energy growth across America by providing loans for projects that generate or store electricity from a renewable energy resource. Part of the loan may also qualify for loan forgiveness.

Who can apply for this program?

Eligible applicants include utilities structured in the following ways:

• Certified electric utilities
• Distribution, generation and transmission electric cooperatives
• Federally-recognized Tribes as determined by the Federally Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994.
• Alaska Native Corporations as determined in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
• For-profit organizations
• Nonprofit organizations
• State or local governments

What is an eligible area?

Electricity produced or stored by the project may serve both rural and nonrural residents. However, at least 50 percent of the service area must be rural. Applicants can choose how to calculate the rural percentage:

• Compare rural population to total population
• Compare rural electric meters to total meters

 Certain exceptions may be made if the area has high energy burdens, serious economic needs or there are major added benefits for rural customers.

(If you are not a current or former RUS or Rural Electrification Act (REA) borrower, a rural determination will be conducted by RUS in order to identify the service territory where electricity from the facilities to be financed by the PART Award would be delivered and further identify those areas within the service territory that are rural.)

How can funds be used?

Funding can be used to:

• Build new electric generation facilities that use one or more of the following Renewable Energy Resource (RER) to generate power: Hydropower, geothermal or biomass technologies
• Build new Energy Storage Systems (ESS) that will be charged by hydropower, geothermal, biomass, wind or solar power.
• Build or upgrade linear facilities such as power lines, distribution and transmission facilities, microgrids, transformers, and other equipment needed to export, transmit, and deliver power from the generating or storage facility to the off-taker
• Cover interconnection expenses and other costs to deliver electricity, including microgrid‑related costs
• Recover pre-application expenses pursuant to 7 CFR part 1767 
• Recover loan application costs, including interest during construction (IDC), pursuant to 7 CFR 1710.106(a)(4).

Note: Facilities may be co-located to operate interconnectedly or independently or constructed at separate sites. Requests for forbearance periods will not be entertained if such period exceeds six months. We will not approve facilities that violate the terms of an applicant’s existing wholesale power contract.

What kind of funding is available?

Approximately $410 million through September 30, 2031.

(If permitted, RUS may increase the total level of funding available. The agency may also choose to obligate fewer funds if there are not enough high-quality applications.)

 Minimum Award Amounts: $1 million.

Maximum Award Amounts: $100 million (inclusive of the forgivable portion). Additionally, the combined total of any prior Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) Award and PART Award may not exceed $100 million.

We offer two types of loans:

1. Project Loans

   Project loans are used to finance specific projects.

   1. The loan will be secured and backed by the project’s assets and revenue generated from the assets.
   2. The applicant may need to provide extra cash reserves.
   3. With the off-takers’ permission, if there is a power purchase agreement, it must be assigned to the agency as security.
   4. Tax credits or direct payments may count toward the applicant’s required investment, but we may require extra support until those tax benefits are received.
   5. Under Section 306F of the RE Act, the agency may finance up to 100% of project costs in certain Substantially Underserved Trust Areas (SUTA).
   6. Funding will only be released after commercial operations of the project have started and we have confirmed the awardee has met all other requirements.
2. System Loans:
   System Loans are only available to currently operating electric utilities.
   1. System loans may cover up to 100% of project costs if financially feasible.
   2. The applicant must provide RUS with a perfected senior lien, meaning, RUS has the first legal claim on all of applicant’s assets. This includes real property (such as land and buildings), personal property (such as equipment and vehicles), intangible assets (such as account receivable) and after-acquired property (assets the applicants purchases in the future.)
   3. Generation and transmission suppliers may secure the loan through an indenture if the agency gets a first‑priority interest through the trustee.
   4. Funds can be used to finance construction, but loan forgiveness happens only after the project is finished and all requirements are met.

What are the loan terms?

The length of the loan will be the lesser of the:

• Useful life of the project
• Term of the power purchase agreement, if one is required
• Term of land lease, if the applicant does not own the land
• Expiration dates of power sales contracts, if applicable
• Number of years the applicant requests
• 35 years

How do we get started?

• Letter of Interest (LOI) Submissions. LOIs must be submitted beginning at 11:59 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) on September 8, 2026, and until 11:59 a.m. ET on October 9, 2026. LOI will not be accepted after 11:59 a.m. ET on October 9, 2026.
   
• Application Submissions. A LOI submitter that receives an Invitation to Proceed will have 60 days, or a time agreeable to the agency, to complete and submit its loan application. If the deadline to submit the Application falls on Saturday, Sunday, or a Federal holiday, the Application is due the next business day. The Administrator may grant an extension of time to complete the documentation required for an application if, in the Administrator’s sole judgment, extraordinary circumstances prevented the PART Applicant from completing the application within the timeframe herein stipulated. In extending an Invitation to Proceed to a LOI submitter in the queue, RUS reserves the right to meet overall RUS program objectives and therefore may notify the PART Applicant that the amount of financing to be Awarded is below the level sought by the PART Applicant.
   
• RUS reserves the right to ask PART Applicants for clarifying information on, or additional information related to, the LOI or application.

The Rural Utilities Service reserves the right to ask applicants for clarifying information on, or additional information related to, their letter of interest or application.

Who can answer questions?

SM.RD.RUS.PART-Questions@usda.gov or General Field Representatives in your state.

What governs this program?

• Section 22001 of the Inflation Reduction Act, (IRA) Public Law 117-169
• Section 317 of the Rural Electrification Act of 1936,7 S.C. 940g (REA)
• 7 S.C. 8103,/node/12216
• 7 CFR parts 1700-1730, 1767, 1773, and 1787, and 7 CFR part 1b