The U.S. Department of Agriculture is releasing some funding for grants that helped farms and other businesses in New Hampshire build solar arrays and other small renewable energy systems.

Residents using these grants were thrown into uncertainty earlier this year when the Trump Administration announced it would freeze spending on climate-related programs initiated during the Biden Administration.

Some of that funding was released in late February. But for those who received Rural Energy for America grants, the confusion persisted until this week, when federal agriculture officials announced that the funding would be unfrozen and recipients would have a chance to “voluntarily revise” their projects.

“This process gives rural electric providers and small businesses the opportunity to refocus their projects on expanding American energy production while eliminating Biden-era DEIA and climate mandates embedded in previous proposals,” the Department of Agriculture said in a press release.

Recipients of the Rural Energy for America Program grants and two related programs — Empowering Rural America and Powering Affordable Clean Energy — will have 30 days to review and revise their projects to align them with Trump Administration policies.

Data from Atlas Public Policy show that 36 New Hampshire residents got grants through the Rural Energy for America Program between 2023 and 2025. When the Inflation Reduction Act was approved in 2022, it boosted that long-running grant program, allowing awards to cover more project costs.

Federal agriculture officials said the USDA would contact individual grant recipients to tell them how to participate in the review. Changes will need approval, but grant awardees could also choose not to change their projects. They could also choose not to respond.

For those who choose not to change their project, processing “will resume immediately,” according to the Department of Agriculture.

Ara Lynn, who runs Amazing Flower Farm in New Ipswich, has been expecting reimbursement through the Rural Energy for America Program for a solar array she built on her farm. The delays have caused trouble.

“We’re scrambling to get our workers paid,” she said. “I need workers. But we don’t have income yet because we’re not open until probably the beginning of May.”

She dipped into retirement savings to make ends meet.

Lynn said there is nothing in her project to revise; the solar array is already built. During the first month of operations, her electric bill was a fifth of its normal cost.