Rural Power Co-Ops Gain $4.37B in Late-Stage US Clean Energy Project Funding
Work to convert this nearly 400-MW rural Texas lignite coal power plant to be the site of new solar energy generation and battery storage will gain most of the $1.4 billion in new federal funding awarded to the San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc.
Photo slightly cropped courtesy San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc.
In its latest—but still not final—clean energy funding push before departing on Jan. 19, the Biden Administration has awarded more than $4.37 billion to 10 U.S. rural power cooperatives through the U.S. Agriculture Dept.’s Empowering Rural America program.
The funding selections for the program, earmarked under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, join those in an earlier round this year that have awarded a total of nearly $12 billion to member-owned rural electric cooperatives. The program and others represent the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin D. Roosevelt launched that effort in 1936, said the department.
USDA said it also chose six other co-ops in Colorado, Louisiana, Oregon and Washington-Idaho "to move forward in the process" to receive new program funding and that it expects to make other award announcements "in the coming weeks."
Two cooperatives—in Texas and Florida—gained about $2.7 billion of the funding total.
San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc., in Atascosa County, Texas, will use its $1.4-billion award to convert its 400-MW lignite coal plant into an estimated 600-MW solar energy and battery storage site that will serve 47 rural southern counties in the state. Local officials say the project will reduce carbon emissions by more than 1.8 million tons per year, adding that with the co-op’s transition to renewable energy, only 14 coal-fired operating power plants will be left in Texas.
The San Miguel plant has been a target of opponents for some years, with the Environmental Integrity Project and Sierra Club claiming it is a leading cause of mercury emissions and that toxic chemicals from its two coal ash impoundments have seeped into groundwater. The co-op disputes the allegations and says it is in compliance with environmental regulations, the nonprofit Texas Tribune reports.
Seminole Electric Cooperative Inc. in Tampa, Fla., will use its funding of more than $1.3 billion to develop 700 MW of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage projects in rural areas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3.5 million tons annually, according to the agriculture department. The energy wholesaler provides power to 2 million customers in 42 counties.
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Other rural co-ops with new funding include two in Georgia: Georgia Transmission Corp,, which gains up to $325 million for new and upgraded transmission assets in about 20 rural communities across the state; and Oglethorpe Power Corp., with a $331.5-million investment to help refinance outstanding loans for the retired Hal B. Wansley coal plant that had served 38 member co-ops.
United Power, a Colorado co-op, will use $262 million to help finance construction of more than 760 MW of rural renewable energy, while Yampa Valley Electric Association gained nearly $50 million for up to 150 MW of solar energy and 75 MW of battery storage in northwestern Colorado and southwestern Wyoming.
Others awardees include CORE Electric Cooperative in Colorado, with $225 million in funding for 550 MW of wind and solar power and 100 MW of battery storage for rural communities; and Nebraska Electric G&T, which gained $200 million for 725 MW of wind and solar energy in Butler, Burt and Custer counties.
Connexus Energy, Minnesota’s largest electric co-op, received nearly $170 million in grants to develop about 282 MW of renewable hydroelectric, solar and wind energy, and 20 MW of battery storage.
"We appreciate that the [Agriculture Dept.] recognizes the substantial benefits our portfolio of projects provides our member-owners in decarbonizing power supply,” said its president and CEO Brian Burandt, claiming carbon emissions will be cut by 2.2 million tons per year.
