News
More investments being made into rural energy
Rural electric cooperatives are receiving a second round of funding from the USDA to help upgrade rural energy systems.
Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says projects will be funded by the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program. “The projects that we’ve announced to date will be delivering cleaner, more affordable and more resilient electricity to approximately 5 million households across 23 States and rural America,” he says. “This will support nearly 20,000 jobs. It will reduce pollution by billions and millions of tons, and it will craft to create 10 gigawatts of clean energy.”
National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi says rural families and businesses have faced disproportionately high energy costs. “In Minnesota and South Dakota, one of the sources of power that is going to be deployed is hydropower,” he says. “Using the energy from our rivers to power our economy.”
Secretary Vilsack says in addition to developing clean energy, the investments create an entire workforce. “That too will help to spur economic opportunity,” he says. “When you’ve got good paying jobs supporting rural residents, that means their families stay in those rural communities that supports their local school, that supports the local hospital and the healthcare system, the local small business owner on the Main Street.”
The USDA will invest nearly $1 billion in grants and loans for the six electric cooperatives selected to advance in the New ERA process.
- Connexus Energy, serving rural communities in Minnesota and South Dakota
- Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc, serving rural communities in South Carolina
- Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association Inc., serving rural communities in Colorado
- Nebraska Electric Generation, serving rural communities in Nebraska
- Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative serving rural communities in Texas
- Yampa Valley Electric Association, serving rural communities in Colorado