We win REAP grants for your energy projects.

What is USDA-REAP?

The Rural Energy for America Program can offer reimbursement grants for 50% of your energy project’s costs.

Who’s eligible for a REAP grant?
Any business that’s small and rural, as well as farms of any size.

Why hire a grant writer?
A USDA-REAP application can be a complicated, fragmented, and competitive process. You want it done right, by someone with deep experience who knows how to get your maximum score.

Check Your Eligibility

Working with Lightshed:

Deep knowledge of scoring system to maximize your score
9 years of expertise
Active in 40+ states
High success rate (hundreds of successful applications)
Efficient— 1-2 week turnaround for most projects
High attention to detail
All digital
Easy drag-and-drop file uploads
MyDashboard for easy viewing and taking action on all your projects

Our Process

Simple. Fast. Accurate.

01 | Upload Files

If you ask us to complete a REAP application package, all we ask of you is to answer a few basic questions and upload some files through our simple drag-and-drop portal. This takes most applicants 10-20 minutes.

02 | Review & e-sign

You can expect 1-2 weeks until it’s time for you to review and e-sign the finished application. Then we ensure your application is successfully submitted to USDA.

What files will I need?

Efficiency

Streamlined—We are tooled specifically for REAP grant writing.
Quick—Our target for your interaction with us is 10-20 minutes across only a few key milestones.
Drag-and-drop—One-stop file drop portals to minimize errors and emails.

About Us

User Experience

MyDashboard lets you view and take action on all your open projects, and start new projects with all your company's information pre-filled.
Easy—We're sure our process requires the least legwork from clients compared to other grant writers.
All Digital—Most applications require no downloading, printing, scanning, or manual editing of files.

Expertise

Score Maximization—Unlike most other grant writers, we proactively identify and clearly present opportunities to increase the project score you might come to us with.
Credentials — Our very small team is NABCEP credentialed, and understands how to write an application that has your project stand out above others.
Relationships—Experience and lines of communication already established in 30 US states.

Meet Our Team

Both Rural Small Businesses (breweries, car dealerships, hotels, warehouses, coffee shops, retail stores, etc.) and Farms are eligible for REAP.

Two Paths to
USDA-REAP Eligibility

01 | Rural Small Businesses

Are you Rural?

Check the USDA-REAP Rural Eligibility Map to make sure the project address is located in an eligible rural area. (Select the "Eligibility-RBS" Map Layer)

Are you Small?

That depends on the industry you’re in. Use the SBA Size Standards Tool to find your industry and see if your revenue (or employee count) puts you in the “small” category for that industry. Be sure to include any parent/affiliate companies in your math.

02 | Farms

Farms have no size or geographical restrictions. You can be a huge farm. You can be an urban farm. You do not need to meet any of the “rural small business” requirements.

However, those applying as a Farm will need to prove that more than 50% of their household income comes from the sale of agricultural products. If this is not the case, your farm business then will need to be considered eligible as a “rural small business," and apply that way.