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Rural Resilience

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Aerial still of farmland and a lake near Shelby, a village in Oceana County in Michigan, on a Fall morning.

Clean energy is not just a buzzword for Michigan—it’s becoming a reality, and rural communities are leading the charge. As Michigan embraces new opportunities to create a sustainable and prosperous…

Wind farm at sunset in West Virginia, USA

Wind energy is rapidly becoming a significant force in West Virginia’s evolving energy landscape. Once defined primarily by its coal industry, the Mountain State is now seeing the rise of…

Stuart Lavalier has been making improvements to his farm in northern Minnesota for years, but his latest addition is already a true cash crop. Lavalier’s Berry Patch and Orchard started off with strawberries and grew to include pumpkins, blueberries, honeyberries, lingonberries, cherries and apples. Now, the berry patch has one more money-maker: a 27.3-kilowatt solar array that zeroes out his electricity bill and adds to the farm’s income stream.

“We’re seeing a negative number on our electric bill,” Lavalier told Resource Rural. “We don’t have a huge electricity bill, but the solar covers it.”

In his first year with the array, he’s already seeing the benefit to the farm’s bottom line. “We’ve been getting a check back each month of about $300.”