Cooperatives score big win in new round of DOE network financing program

Electric cooperatives and other rural utilities have received significant funding to better protect their systems from extreme weather, meet growing demand and lower costs for customers under a new round of a major $2 billion Energy Department program.

The funding will be provided through the U.S. Department of Energy’s $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership program, which was created by the bipartisan Infrastructure Act of 2021 to improve grid flexibility and provide access to affordable, reliable electricity.

As part of the new GRIP round, NRCA and 12 rural electric utilities led by Georgia Transmission Corp. were selected to negotiate $97.9 million in financing for new and upgraded transmission infrastructure, part of rural utilities’ efforts to improve grid resiliency using advanced technologies. The money will support the Smart Technology for Advanced Resilient Transmission (START) project, which aims to build, reconstruct or modernize transmission infrastructure and increase power transmission capacity, including through the use of modern overhead wires.

The consortium’s funding will support 13 transmission projects in 11 states.

“Electric cooperatives are leaders in finding innovative ways to provide reliable energy to their communities,” said NRECA CEO Jim Matheson. “This federal funding is an important tool as they work to meet the energy needs of tomorrow.”

Rural utilities receiving GRIP funds can help meet growing needs for transmission capacity amid new sources of demand and an aging grid. By some estimates, the US must replace 200,000 miles of existing power lines over the next decade.

“As U.S. power demand continues to grow, upgrading and building new transmission lines will be critical,” Matheson said. “Electric cooperatives are working together to reliably meet these increased energy needs.”

In addition to Georgia Transmission Corp., other rural utilities receiving new Project START awards include:

• Arizona Electric Power Cooperative Inc. (Benson, Arizona)
• Carteret Craven Electric Membership Corp. (Newport, North Carolina)
• Dairyland Energy Cooperative (La Crosse, WI)
• Eastern Kentucky Energy Cooperative (Winchester, KY)
• East River Electric Power Cooperative Inc. (Madison, South Dakota)
• Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative Inc. (Calais, Maine)
• Elkhorn Rural State Power District (Battle Creek, Nebraska)
• Great River Energy (Maple Grove, Minnesota)
• Northern Rio Arriba Electric Cooperative (Chama, New Mexico)
• Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corp. (Fayetteville, Arkansas)
• Polk County Rural Public Power District (Stromesburg, Nebraska)

The new round of GRIP funding also included a number of other joint projects:

• Tennessee Valley Authority (Nashville, TN): $250 million to support TVA and project partners, including certain cooperatives, on grid resiliency projects in eight states.
• Hoosier Energy Rural Electric Cooperative (Bloomington, IN) and Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative (Marion, IL): $116.8 million to construct new loop transmission lines at 10 substations in seven counties.
• Jones-Onslow Electric Membership Corp. (Jacksonville, NC): $42.3 million for upgrades including a new step-down station, new transmission lines to provide power from multiple sources, and structural strengthening of existing facilities.
• Rita Blanca Electric Cooperative Inc. (Dalhart, TX): $40.7 million to construct a new 55-mile transmission line between Dalhart, TX and the Three Corners substation on the Texas-Oklahoma-New Mexico border.
• Delaware County Electric Cooperative (Delhi, New York): $27.7 million for projects to improve grid resiliency to avoid outages caused by weather events and tree damage from invasive species.
• Black Hills Electric Cooperative Inc. (Custer, South Dakota): $20.54 million for network technology, wildfire warning system, and systems operations tools to reduce risk from high winds, extreme temperatures, and wildfires in South Dakota and Nebraska.
• Randolph Electric Membership Corp. (Ashboro, NC): $11.5 million to replace 24 aging communications circuits over 50 miles and install advanced preventive maintenance and fault detection devices.
• Tombigbee Electric Cooperative (Hamilton, Alabama): $11.2 million to upgrade its electric distribution system, including energy storage, conductor replacement, and deployment of a distributed energy management system.
• Kotzebue Electric Association (Kotzebue, Alaska): $7.5 million to upgrade the power plant to withstand blizzards and extreme weather conditions.

Molly Christian is a staff writer for NRECA.