Sixteen US rural electric co-ops to get USD 7.3bn for clean energy

The US government on Thursday announced more than USD 7.3 billion (EUR 6.6bn) in financing for 16 rural electric cooperatives to build clean energy for rural communities across the country.

The financing, coming from the Inflation Reduction Act’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) programme, was announced by US President Joe Biden and Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack during a visit to Westby, Wisconsin.

The new ERA funds will help the 16 selections to build or purchase over 10 GW of clean energy, including 3,723 MW of wind, 4,733 MW of solar, 804 MW of nuclear and 357 MW of hydropower, as well as install 1,892 MWh of battery storage. The cooperatives will also make enabling investments in transmission, substation upgrades, and distributed energy resource management software.

The states served by them include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

As part of the announcement, Dairyland Power Cooperative will receive the first finalised award in the New ERA programme, nearly USD 573 million of grant and loan funding. It will leverage this money for a total project investment of USD 2.1 billion in the procurement of 1,080 MW of renewable energy through eight wind and solar power purchase agreements. Projects include 593 MW of wind, 427 MW of solar and 60 MW of energy storage in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.

According to the announcement, Dairyland’s electric rates are expected to be 42% lower over 10 years compared to what they would have been without New ERA funding.

The combination of New ERA and other investments in rural clean energy from the IRA is described as the largest investment in rural electrification since Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936 as part of the New Deal.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.901)

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