Alabama Alpaca Farm Gets $40,648 Fed Grant, $142,500 Fed Loan to Go Solar

September 11, 2013 By Eric Scheiner

To fund a solar power system for his alpaca farm, an Alabama farmer combined a $40,648 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant, federal tax credits, and a $142,500 federally funded loan with a 1-percent interest rate.

Cozy Cove Alpaca and Llama Farm in Gurley, Alabama is now generating its own power and is selling the excess electricity at above-market prices to a corporation owned by the U.S. government.

Alpaca farm owner Tony O’Neil received a USDA “Rural Energy for America Program” grant of $40,648 as part of his effort to install a solar power system to generate electricity for his farm. Cozy Cove is now generating its own power and selling the excess power to the Tennessee Valley Authority, (TVA) which is owned by the federal government.

The TVA had a program going,” O’Neil tells CNSNews.com. “There’s an incentive if you put solar panels on your farm or on your house, they would buy all the power from you for 12 cents (per kilowatt hour) above the normal rate that you pay.” - See more at:

 My Take – Ok....let’s see if I understand this correctly.  They gave this guy the money....gave mind you....that’s what a grant really is...."gave money"....money that isn’t theirs....and a really sweet interest rate for more money that he could put into ....probably anything ..... that bears interest and show a profit.  Then....and here is the part that I do hope I understand correctly.....they are going to buy back any excess power for more than they charge.  Did I understand that correctly?  And that’s good business? It must be because at the end of the article he says this is a good deal for the people funding this....the American taxpayer. 

 So then, if that’s the case,  we should assume that if a hamburger joint buys its hamburgers for one dollar and sells them for fifty cents, that’s good business for those funding the restaurant?  Right?

We have lost our minds!