WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar (both D-MN) announced funding to make energy upgrades for more than 150,000 people and homes in Greater Minnesota. Nine electric co-ops across the state are receiving federal funding to make energy upgrades that will reduce costs for consumers and increase energy efficiency. Minnesota’s electric cooperatives provide electricity to nearly one-third of the state.
“The clean energy transition is here, and we can either lead or follow. I want Minnesota to lead, and with this announcement, we will,” said Senator Smith. “With this investment, cooperatives can unleash clean energy in a way that works best for their communities. This will fight climate change. This will lower energy costs. And this will strengthen our energy security and resilience by ensuring our rural communities continue to have safe, reliable and clean, American-made energy for years to come.”
“Far too many households struggle to afford their heating costs. Families should not have to choose between paying for heat and other necessities,” said Senator Klobuchar. “With this investment, electric cooperatives can reduce energy costs for families across our state while strengthening access to clean, reliable power.”
Senator Smith was instrumental in securing this funding for rural electric co-ops through her work on the clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act. The program funding these projects, dubbed the Empowering Rural America (or New ERA) program, was partially inspired by Senator Smith’s Flexible Financing for Rural America Act. This set of awards follow the announcement of three previous awards to Minnesota co-ops last fall.
Nine electric co-ops in Minnesota received funding:
- Blue Earth-Nicollet-Fairbault Cooperative Electric Association will use a $525,000 investment to provide load management modernization that enables ongoing member involvement in a virtual power plant having up to 400 megawatts of flexible demand capabilities. This New ERA project will help BENCO continue providing electric service to nearly 20,000 customers in south central Minnesota.
- Dakota Electric Association will use a $500,000 investment to deploy a new advanced distribution management system to more efficiently operate and control distributed resources across their service territory in Minnesota and will continue providing electricity to nearly 115,000 customers in Dakota, Rice, Scott, and Goodhue counties.
- East Central Energy will use a $625,000 investment to upgrade nearly 8,400 field devices to control loads during peak times in rural areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin. These projects will reduce climate pollution by reducing their dependence on dispatchable resources like natural gas or diesel generators.
- Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association will use nearly $250,000 to continue involvement in Great River Energy’s virtual power plant that shifts more than 400 megawatts of energy in Minnesota, including Goodhue County and portions of the surrounding counties in southeast Minnesota.
- Lake Country Power will use $1.2 million to modernize its demand side management system with up to 50 megawatts (depending on the season) of dispatchable load as part of a virtual power plant in rural Minnesota. This will provide needed capacity for roughly 13,000 homes during peak energy times.
- Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative will use $900,000 to implement a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) software-based platform with a wide range of capabilities for their members in their service territory in Minnesota.
- Stearns Cooperative Electric Association will use a $9.7 million investment to procure 10 megawatts of clean, renewable energy and add 16 megawatts to the GRE virtual power plant in rural Minnesota. The clean renewable energy will power nearly 1,720 homes each year.
- Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric was awarded $16.6 million to construct 8.6 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from wind and solar facilities in rural Minnesota. This will power nearly 2,100 homes each year.
- Basin Electric Power Cooperative will use $775 million to procure both additional renewable energy generation and enhance existing cooperative-owned renewable assets, which are expected to total over 1,400 megawatts to serve its cooperative members in nine states. These projects will create short and long-term jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and provide estimated cost benefits of over $400 million to Basin Electric Power Cooperative members over the life of the New ERA program, including members in Western Minnesota.
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