Federal clean energy grants help NC small businesses save money and innovate

North Carolina business leaders say that transitioning to or adding cleaner energy alternatives to their businesses helps save money, is good for the environment, and makes the nation more energy resilient.

Lillian Mindich always wanted to do more projects on her farm, but the financial costs had always presented obstacles. 

Mindich runs Kolibri Farm, a small farm in Chapel Hill that grows and sells vegetables, as well as eggs produced by their chickens. Sustainability has also long been a priority of Mindich’s, and after her business was granted over $9,000 in federal funds in order to purchase and install a solar array, she was able to not just try her hand at more projects, but do them sustainably. 

For example, she and her husband were able to build a mobile chicken coop last year, a lightweight shelter that can be moved around and allows her chickens to continuously navigate to free pasture, offering them a better quality of life and a more sanitary living space. It also allows the chickens to fertilize more of the farm’s soil via their manure.

Because these shelters have no floors, chickens are also able to directly scratch at the dirt and eat bugs and grass, their naturally preferred foods. 

Mindich was able to build the mobile coop because of the savings from the solar array, which are expected to surpass $2,700 a year. 

“We are afforded the opportunity to do more projects on the farm [and] we can better supply ourselves with the materials that we need,” she said. “The other part of it is that we are sustainability focused in what we do, and so part of what we’re doing on the farm is looking towards regenerative agriculture.” 

Thanks to the savings provided by the array, the farm is also able to focus on soil remediation, a process through which harmful chemicals and elements are removed so that the ground can be restored and made usable again. 

“[It allows us to] live according to our values and have more money to play around with,” she said. “[Do] a little less harm.”

Kolibri is just one of dozens of North Carolina businesses to get this sort of federal funding as part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Rural Energy for America Program (REAP), which awards grants and loan financing to agricultural producers and rural small businesses across the country. 

Aegis Power Systems Inc. is another recipient of a REAP grant; the company just finished installing a rooftop solar array with battery storage on its facility in Murphy, and they did so using over $117,000 in funds provided by the program. 

The company manufactures power electronics – but not the kind you find in your home. Instead, they produce power conversion equipment for the US military’s mission computers, radar equipment, missile systems, control systems, and telecommunication equipment.

Arlissa Vaughn, the Chief Executive Officer of Aegis, said that pairing the new rooftop solar system with their existing system has allowed the company to be “close to net zero” in energy consumption and production. She says that it’s a “monumental milestone” for the company. 

“The moment [the new system] went online, you could see the effect,” she said. “We’ve been able to create a system within our process where we’ve been able to recycle a lot of that energy internally.” 

Kara Gravinese, innovation and business development analyst at the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, said that her organization is always on the lookout for “innovative projects that improve the lives of its members” while also improving business processes. 

The cooperative received over $100,000 from the REAP program in order to install a community solar array at its facility in Garland, and as of December, the array is operational, producing and exporting electricity to communities.

Vaughn thinks that transitioning to cleaner energy alternatives is vital in 2025, especially to make the nation more energy resilient, so that a major disruption in one sector of energy doesn’t lead to major issues. 

“We have got to have more energy production,” she said. “And so if we’re adding on a variety of energy production systems, this is a way to get to that resiliency so that if any one point goes down, it’s not causing catastrophic failure to all systems.” 

Vaughn hopes the Trump administration will also see the resiliency aspect of operations such as hers as not only critical to our daily lives, but to our national security. 

“To continue to produce the goods and equipment for our military and given the current geopolitical environment, this is an important thing we must continue to do,” she said. “I do hope the administration will consider all aspects of that rather than focusing on [the] hype in recent years about going clean.” 

Mindich says that transitioning to clean energy alternatives is “essential if you care about what’s going to happen to our planet.” 

“For me, the idea of the business is really, “How do we support the community and support ourselves and really grow in a way that is respectful of the Earth?” she said. “Because that is essentially what’s supporting us.”