Biden administration announces $3 billion in funding for rural electric cooperatives to promote renewable energy and reduce electricity rates.
The Biden administration announced more than $3 billion Friday in funding for seven rural electric cooperatives, part of a broader effort to promote renewable energy in rural areas.
The grants include nearly $2.5 billion in financing for the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, as well as nearly $1 billion through the Department of Agriculture’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program for six co-ops. The New ERA program, which uses $9.7 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds, is the biggest federal investment in rural electrification since the New Deal in the 1930s.
The Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association funding will cut electricity rates for members by an estimated 10 percent over the next 10 years, equivalent to about $430 million in benefits to rural electricity consumers.
Meanwhile, the six co-ops announced Friday, some of which will serve rural areas in multiple states, are in Minnesota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas.
“The Inflation Reduction Act makes the largest investment in rural electrification since FDR and the New Deal in the 1930s,” said John Podesta, senior adviser 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.”
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