BUTLER COUNTY, Neb (KMTV) — Whether its solar power facilities in Wahoo or wind farms outside of Ponca many of Nebraska’s small towns are taking big steps in generating renewable energy.

But most of Nebraska’s renewables are only generating enough power to cover a small portion of the customers they serve.

“We are a fairly low cost state and thats because of public power. So it’s difficult to get some of those renewable projects into the mix from a cost standpoint,” said Rick Nelson, General Manager for the Nebraska Rural Electric Association.

A new grant from the USDA is looking to cover those costs and provide exponential growth to Nebraska’s renewable capacity.

The $200 Million dollar grant is going to Columbus based Nebraska Generation & Transmission to build 725 Mega Watts of renewable generation in Burt, Butler and Custer count

“725 Megawatts is large, in fact it’s big,” said Nelson.

To give you an idea of how much of a jump in renewable energy generation that will be, in 2022 Norfolk opened what at the time was Nebraska’s largest solar farm.

That facility generates 8.5 Megawatts, enough to power a little over 1200 homes.

This set of projects across 3 counties, once completed, will generate enough to power 170,000 homes per year.

The amount carbon emissions the projects will be able to offset are even more impressive, reducing carbon climate pollution by 2.2 million tons per year. Thats the equivalent of removing 482,000 gasoline powered cars from the road each year.

That also means cheaper rates. The USDA is hoping the project can reduce power rates by 1.5% per year and then there is Nebraska’s Capacity Tax on property related to renewable energy which will bring even more revenue to rural communities.

“The Capacity Tax that goes back to the community. That goes to the school, thats new and thats something thats coming to town,” said Nelson.