On March 25, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced next steps to release previously obligated funding under key programs that will help electric cooperatives modernize their systems.
The announcement advances the Trump administration’s review of funds awarded through the USDA’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA), Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) and Rural Energy for America (REAP) programs.
“These programs provide important tools for co-ops to invest in their systems, unleash American energy and help meet skyrocketing energy needs,” National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) CEO Jim Matheson said.
The move comes after NRECA and more than 40 co-ops delivered nearly 50 letters to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on March 20 describing energy projects that will benefit from the $9.7 billion New ERA and $1 billion PACE programs.
The programs, which President Donald Trump paused as part of a Jan. 20 executive order, provide grants and low-interest loans for co-ops to pursue generation, energy storage and other projects to provide reliable, affordable power.
The New ERA and PACE projects “will help electric cooperatives leverage diverse energy portfolios to reduce costs and meet the future energy demands of rural communities,” the co-ops said in their letters. The projects will also “address growing power supply needs in rural areas by creating a more reliable power grid,” they added.
Indiana-based Hoosier Energy and Wisconsin-based Dairyland Power Cooperative have pending projects and were among those who sent letters. The two generation and transmission cooperatives provide power to areas of rural Illinois.
Altogether, the co-op projects highlighted in the March 20 letters will unleash more than 13 gigawatts of energy in rural communities across the U.S.
