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Westminster, Colo., Oct. 25, 2024 – Today Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced more than $3 billion through the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) Program to lower electricity costs as part of President Biden and Vice President Harris’ Investing in America Agenda.
USDA is awarding nearly $2.5 billion in financing for Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and has selected six rural electric cooperatives to move forward in the awards process for nearly $1 billion in New ERA funds. New ERA was made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which makes the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936.
New ERA program funding is available to member-owned rural electric cooperatives, which have been the backbone of America’s rural power delivery for nearly a century. Today’s investment in rural co-ops will create good-paying jobs and make energy more affordable for families in Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, Minnesota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
“Since day one of his administration, President Biden has remained committed to ensuring rural communities are directly benefitting from a clean energy economy,” Secretary Vilsack said. “Through today’s announcement, USDA is delivering on this commitment with critical funding from the President’s historic Inflation Reduction Act. These projects will strengthen America’s energy security while increasing access to affordable and reliable clean energy for people across the nation.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act makes the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR and the New Deal in the 1930s,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy. “Today’s awards will bring clean, affordable, reliable power to rural Americans from Colorado to Texas to South Carolina.”
“All across America, rural electric cooperatives play an important role in delivering reliable sources of energy to rural communities. Under President Biden and Vice President Harris’s leadership, we are making significant investments to ensure that those communities are receiving clean, carbon-free energy – which will reduce the pollution in our air and water, create good-paying jobs, and lower families’ home energy costs,” said White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi. “By helping rural cooperatives upgrade infrastructure and invest in newer, lower cost clean electricity projects, these investments will benefit rural families and businesses who for too long have faced disproportionately high energy costs due to the challenges of providing electricity in remote communities.”
Today in Westminster, Colorado, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Torres Small joined the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association to highlight the benefits of the nearly $2.5 billion in financing, made possible by a combination of grants and loans through the program. Tri-State’s award is expected to reduce electricity rates 10 percent for cooperative members by 2034, amassing $430 million in rural consumer benefits over ten years. New ERA funds will finance the purchase of 1,040 megawatts of renewable energy and more than 200 megawatts of energy storage. New ERA funds will also help Tri-State refinance the retirement of 1,100 megawatts of previously and newly announced coal-fired energy generation. The investments will provide affordable, reliable, and resilient energy to Tri-State's cooperative members across Arizona, Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. This investment will reduce climate pollution by nearly 5.8 million tons annually. This transformative investment is expected to create more than 2,000 jobs.
USDA also announced six electric cooperatives to move forward in the New ERA process. The six cooperatives are:
- 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, and
- Yampa Valley Electric Association, serving rural communities in Colorado
USDA will be investing nearly $1 billion in grants and loans for these six new selectees, which will leverage investments of $6.4 billion for 1.75 gigawatts of clean energy for rural communities across the country. The selectees announced today will reduce and avoid at least 6.4 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.
Including today’s announcements, USDA has announced over $8.3 billion in funding as part of the New ERA program to benefit rural electric cooperatives and their members through the New ERA program. USDA expects this over $8.3 billion to result in over $13 billion in New ERA financed grants and loans. These projects will create good-paying jobs, lower energy costs for rural communities, significantly reduce pollution, enhance the resiliency of the nation’s electric grid, and advance the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative. One in five rural Americans will benefit from these clean energy investments.
Farmer Benefit Plan
USDA also announced the release of a Farmer Benefit Plan as an innovative way for New ERA awardees to demonstrate ways for agricultural producers to benefit from clean energy projects. USDA encourages each award recipient to collaborate with local stakeholders to develop a Community Benefit Plan. During the first year of the award, applicants will collaborate with their communities and local farm associations to codevelop a plan. Based on the New ERA applications received so far, coops are collaborating with 154 local community groups, including 50 farm organizations, to explore local priorities.
As part of their New ERA award, Tri-State will develop a Farmer Benefit Plan that aims to lower electricity costs for farmers who voluntarily participate in a smart irrigation program. The goal of the program is to reduce pumping load at the times of peak demand. This will help reduce future energy needs and offset the need to build new transmission and generation, saving cooperative members from future costs. Tri-State will work with farmers to execute additional energy programs to encourage the most efficient use of electricity and water and will provide no-cost technical support to enable participation in these opportunities. Tri-State will engage local farm associations for additional ideas as they move through the Community Benefits Plan process.
Investments from USDA Rural Development
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities, create jobs and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and healthcare; and high-speed internet access in rural, Tribal and high-poverty areas. Visit the Rural Data Gateway to learn how and where these investments are impacting rural America.
These investments made through the Inflation Reduction Act are powering the Biden-Harris Administration’s efforts to make USDA programs more inclusive, accessible and available to more people than ever before so that these benefits are felt for generations to come. Many of these programs are also part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which is advancing environmental justice by ensuring that 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal climate, clean energy, and other investments reach disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
USDA expects to continue making New ERA and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program awards in the coming months.
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