USDA announces $7.3 billion energy investments for 16 rural cooperatives, including one in Nebraska

Transmission lines carry electricity from NRG Energy’s Joliet Station power plant on May 7, 2015 in Joliet, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

The federal government announced $7.3 billion in investments Thursday for 16 rural electric cooperatives around the country, including one in Nebraska, that seek to expand clean energy.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a news release the funds come through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program that is part of other investments in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Private investments of more than $29 billion will aid the 16 cooperatives across 23 states in building more than 10 gigawatts of clean energy for rural communities.

The USDA said the investments will reduce or avoid at least 43.7 million tons of greenhouse gasses annually, the equivalent of removing more than 10 million cars from the road each year.

“Put simply, this is rural power, for rural America,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

Other purposes of the funds are to:

• Deliver cleaner, more affordable and more resilient electricity to approximately 5 million households across 23 states, or about 20% of the nation’s rural households, farms, businesses and schools.
• Support more than 4,500 permanent jobs and 16,000 construction jobs.
• Reduce pollution by 2.9 billion tons over the course of the projects.
• Build 1,892 megawatt hours of battery storage.

One of the selectees is the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc. that serves Nebraska in addition to Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. It is based in Colorado.

USDA states that investment will support retiring 1,100 megawatts of coal-fired generation in Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico while procuring 1,480 megawatts of renewable energy through solar, wind and battery storage in the rural portions of its four service states.

The news release adds that the “transformative shift in resources” is estimated to create nearly 2,200 short- and long-term jobs, cut member costs by $422 million over 20 years, reduce climate pollution by nearly 5.8 million tons annually and lower greenhouse gas pollution by the equivalent of 1.4 million gas-powered cars annually.

Tri-State CEO Duane Highley said the New ERA program is the largest investment in rural electric cooperatives and their communities since the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 passed under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

“We couldn’t be more excited by this opportunity to leverage New ERA to serve our cooperative’s members and support our communities through unparalleled investments that achieve significant greenhouse gas emissions reductions while maintaining the reliable, affordable electricity rural communities count on,” Highley said in a statement.

The total list of first round selectees under the New ERA program and the states they serve are:

• Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc.; Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
• Arizona Electric Power Cooperative Inc.; Arizona, California, Nevada and New Mexico.
• Basin Electric Power Cooperative; Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
• Buckeye Power Inc.; Ohio.
• CORE Electric Cooperative; Colorado.
• Dairyland Power Cooperative; Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.
• East Kentucky Power Cooperative; Kentucky.
• Golden Valley Electric Association; Alaska.
• Great River Energy; Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
• Hoosier Energy; Indiana and Michigan.
• Minnkota Power Cooperative; North Dakota and Minnesota.
• San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc.; Texas.
• Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc.; Florida.
• Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc.; Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska and Wyoming.
• United Power; Colorado.
• Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative; Michigan.

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