Electric cooperatives are advocating that the Department of Energy (DOE) make changes to a new rule that would phase out large-capacity electric storage water heaters from demand management programs.  These water heaters save time and energy for cooperatives and provide significant reductions in wholesale power costs.  Currently, the DOE has offered one-year waivers for the water heater efficiency standards set to take effect in 2015, but cooperatives have argued that the waiver would not protect the water heaters used in load management.  Click here for more.

On May 13, Broadway Electrical Co., Inc. announced that its financial partner, Rockland Capital, LLC of Texas and New York, has secured $120 million in financing from Deutsche Bank and Key Bank for its solar energy projects planned for Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.  This financing will provide for 37 MW of solar energy, including 24 MW for Cape & Vineyard Electric Cooperative, Inc.  Read more here.

Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative, located in Bastrop, Texas, has refinanced $92 million of debt to borrow wholly from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC).  Bluebonnet has decades of experience with the CFC, which has accommodated the coop’s changing financial plans and borrowing needs.  To learn more, click here.

The Department of Agriculture announced a fiscal 2014 budget of $4 billion for the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Electric Loan Program.  Of that amount, $3 billion would be earmarked for renewable energy projects with the remaining $1 billion held for environmental upgrades.  The proposed budget provides no money for other distribution or transmission projects, a void that lawmakers hope will be filled by banks and not-for-profit organizations.  Read more here.

On May 8, nearly three dozen electric utility executives met with President Obama to discuss ways to improve the industry’s ability to respond to major disruptions or threats to grid reliability, such as the outages that occurred with Superstorm Sandy.  The group discussed ways to better aid the collective response required at such times, including providing adequate food and lodging to out-of-area crews, ensuring the delivery and availability of fuel and other critical supplies to affected areas, and facilitating cooperation between industry and the government.  Read more here.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports that the electric industry will see an increase in coal usage in 2013 and 2014 due to higher natural gas prices.  While coal will rise to approximately 40 percent of the industry’s fuel sources, production levels are expected to decline, largely due to reduced exports.  Click here for more information.

Delaware Electric Cooperative (DEC) has entered into an agreement to purchase 2 MW of power produced at the Delaware Solid Waste Authority’s landfill in Sandtown, Delaware. This is the first time that DEC will purchase energy directly from a landfill gas project.  The landfill gas project at the site is operated by Ameresco, which will expand the project by adding two new methane-fueled engines. Once completed, the expanded project will be capable of producing 5 MW of power.  To read more about this story, click here.

A bill passed in the Texas Senate proposes that utilities pay Texas customers that generate excess solar energy a fair market price for their contributions to the electrical grid.  Under current law, if a utility does not voluntarily offer to buy excess solar energy, customers must negotiate directly with their providers to be compensated for the energy they add to the grid.  Read more here (subscription required).

Two Illinois electric coops, Jo-Carroll Energy, Inc. and Farmers Mutual Electric Company, have merged.  The integrated coop, Jo-Carroll Energy, will serve a combined 21,372 electric members and will be a 100-percent Cooperative Finance Corporation borrower.  Click here for more.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin), with headquarters in Bismarck, North Dakota, is building two new 45-MW, natural gas-fired peaking stations to help meet the increased demand for electricity.  The Pioneer Generation Station, which is being built about 15 miles northwest of Williston, is scheduled for commercial operation in June.  The Lonesome Creek Station, which is being constructed about 15 miles west of Watford City, is scheduled for commercial operation in late July.  Basin’s recent 2013 load forecast showed that the majority of growth is in northwest North Dakota and northeast Montana.  Minot Daily News has the full story.

Colorado-based Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State), Georgia-based Blue Ridge Mountain Electric Membership Corporation, Texas-based Rio Grande Electric Cooperative and Ohio-based Logan County Cooperative Power & Light Association will receive more than $126 million in loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for infrastructure upgrades, including $20 million for smart grid projects.  The four coops serve eight states.  Tri-State, which delivers electricity to its 44-member systems in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming, will receive $73 million, the largest loan of the group.  Click here for more.

Delaware Electric Cooperative recently signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Delaware Solid Waste Authority for 2 MW of power generated from a landfill in Sandtown.  The purchase is part of the coop’s long-term strategy of procuring a mix of energy sources at competitive prices.  Click here for the full story.

The Colorado House of Representatives has passed a bill which would increase the amount of renewable energy rural electric cooperatives in the state must use.  The mandate would require these cooperatives to get 20 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.  The bill also increased the amount that electric cooperatives can charge customers for the new power sources to two percent of a customer’s bill.  To read more about the status of the bill and the impact it may have on rural electric cooperatives in Colorado, click here.

The deserts of the Pacific Northwest have become popular locations for data centers, and this trend is changing the way some electric coops do business.  Companies including Google, Amazon, and Facebook have chosen locations in or around Oregon because of the state’s tax breaks, cheap abundant power, and cool, dry weather that can accommodate large-scale data centers.  To maintain 24/7 operations of video streaming, messaging, and Internet purchasing, each data center requires an uninterrupted source of power.  Estimated electric demand in Oregon by 2030 is nearly 2,500 MW—enough power for 239,000 homes—unless the data centers adopt more energy-efficient operations.  Coops in the state are rapidly evolving to meetthe influx of demand, although concerns have arisen about meeting the demand while complying with state Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements.  For more on this story, click here.

The Georgia electric membership coops that intended to develop a $2.1 billion, 850-MW, coal-fired power plant in Sandersville, Georgia, are foregoing ownership stakes in the project.  This planned restructuring does not mean that the project will not be funded, however.  The group, Power4Georgians, did not report a new source of financing but did state that its members all intend to remain as customers.  Click here for more.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is providing funding for four rural electric projects in eight states to enhance reliable, affordable electricity for rural residents.  These projects, which will employ smart grid technology, are the latest in approximately 650 rural electric utility projects funded since 2009.  Specifically the USDA is providing more than $126 million in loans to upgrade rural electric infrastructure, including more than $20 million in smart grid funding.  Recipients include Colorado’s Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. and Ohio’s Logan County Cooperative Power & Light Association, Inc.  Read more here.

Century Aluminum of Kentucky, Big Rivers Electric Corporation and Kenergy Corp. have agreed to a framework for providing market-priced power to the Hawesville smelter located in Hancock County, Kentucky.  Under the agreement, which is subject to further negotiations and approval by various third parties, the coops would purchase power on the open market and pass it through to Century at market price plus additional costs incurred by the coops.  The parties hope to finalize the agreement before the expiration of the current power contract on August 20, 2013.  To read the parties’ full press release, click here.

For the second year in a row, electric cooperatives scored an average of 83 points out of 100 possible points for customer satisfaction as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI).  Coops maintained higher scores than energy utilities, which increased for the seventh straight year—to 77.4 out of 100 possible points.  The ACSI found that increased energy efficiency and relatively mild weather led to lower energy bills and more content customers.  Click here to read more.

Members of Midwest Energy, a gas and electric coop, are voting on whether they want the Kansas Corporation Commission to continue having regulatory authority over their coop.  The coop expects to realize a number benefits if its members approve giving authority to a local board of directors and operating as a self-regulated entity.  If approved, Midwest Energy would be the 27th out of 29 coops in Kansas to become self-regulated.  The Hutchinson News has the full story.

A Colorado bill that would significantly raise renewable energy requirements for Colorado coops was referred out of the state House Committee on Transportation & Energy for consideration by the entire House of Representatives.  Senate Bill 13-252 was passed by the Colorado Senate in mid-April.  Click here for the current status of the bill.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has proposed a rule to approve the long-awaited Version 5 of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation’s Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards, which will overhaul the CIP regulatory framework and trigger new and revised compliance obligations for many users, owners and operators of the bulk electric system.  While Version 5 establishes “a more robust cyber security posture for the industry,” FERC seeks input on certain ambiguous aspects of Version 5.  Coops should start their internal compliance reviews with a view toward meeting the final, approved Version 5 and consider submitting comments to FERC.  Read the full Sutherland Legal Alert.

Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has announced plans to build a 1,000-MW, gas-fired generating plant in Maryland.  This plant will be built on an existing site at an estimated cost of $675 million.  ODEC will file an application with the Maryland Public Service Commission in May and plans to begin construction in late 2014.  ODEC announced that the new plant, which will be known as the Wildcat Point Generation Facility, will generate enough power to serve 390,000 homes annually.  To read more about this story, click here.

The Solar Electric Power Association included two electric cooperatives in its list of top 10 utilities incorporating solar generation wattage per member.  Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, which had been ranked at twelfth place in 2011, moved to second place, adding 282 watts of solar electricity capacity per member last year.  Chickasaw Electric Cooperative, ranked fifth on the list, largely thanks to its connection to the West Tennessee Solar Farm, which is the largest supplier of solar power to the Tennessee Valley Authority.  Read more here.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a bill that could help electric coops defend against threats, has cleared the U.S. House of Representatives.  The bill would encourage the sharing of cyber threat information between the federal government and the private sector, including coops.  The next step is for the bill to clear the Senate.  For more information, click here.

The 67-MW Colorado Highlands Wind project will provide 24 MW of additional generation output this July.  Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association (Tri-State) will purchase the expanded generation output pursuant to its 20-year power purchase agreement.  Tri-State already purchases the full 67-MW output from this wind facility.  Click here for more information.

Colorado Senators passed a bill 18-17 this week that would dramatically raise renewable energy requirements for the state’s electric coops.  The bill would require the electricity coops to get 25 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, which is a 10 percent increase from present requirements.  The bill also would  limit consumer rate increases for these upgrades to 2 percent.  The bill now heads to the House.  Click here for more information.

Under the proposed 2014 federal budget, the lending authority of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) would be decreased from $6.5 billion to $4 billion, which RUS projects will be sufficient to meet the demand from borrowers.  Of this new amount, $3 billion will be earmarked for generation with carbon sequestration and renewable energy, including peaking plants to complement intermittent renewable resources.  The remaining $1 billion in lending authority will be available for pollution controls.  The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association has pledged that it will work with members of Congress to ensure that coops have the financing flexibility to provide affordable, reliable electricity.  Electric Co-op Today has the full story.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced plans to provide nearly $280 million in funding for projects designed to improve rural electric service.  The funds, which will address service in rural areas across 13 states, will contribute to the construction of more than 1,900 miles of new or improved transmission and distribution lines.  For a complete list of rural electric cooperatives receiving this USDA funding, click here.

A Colorado state committee approved legislation this week that would require that 25 percent of Colorado’s electric coop electricity come from renewable sources by 2020.  Investor-owned utilities in the state — Xcel Energy Inc. and Black Hills Energy — must by state law generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020.  Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association and rural electric coop officials sought to block the legislation in its current form, stating that the 25 percent target by 2020 was not feasible.  For more on this story, click here.

Wyoming-based High West Energy, Inc., is getting into the computer repair business, through new subsidiary High West Digital Solutions.  The coop, which provides electricity to 10,000 customers in Wyoming, Nebraska and Colorado, believes there is unmet demand for computer repair services in its geographical area.  High West Digital Solutions will repair computers, remove viruses, build websites and provide other networking and programming services.  Customers can even sign up for house calls.  Click here for more.

The CEO of Vermont Electric Cooperative (VEC) has indicated that the coop will oppose any new large wind projects in northern Vermont because existing wind projects have introduced instability in the grid, prompting grid operator ISO-New England to order existing wind projects in Vermont and New Hampshire to curtail electricity output.  As a result, wind farm turbines are not being allowed to operate at capacity.  VEC and its partner Green Mountain Power, which own the Lowell wind project called Kingdom Community Wind, have lost approximately $1 million in electricity sales because of curtailment this winter.  VEC is advocating a three-year moratorium to study these problems to find out how to introduce renewable green electricity into the existing grid.  The Caledonian-Record has the full story (subscription required).

The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) recently closed an “amend and extend” (A&E) transaction for Columbus, Ohio-based Buckeye Power Inc.  An A&E transaction allows the borrower to change the terms of an existing credit agreement, such as the maturity date and pricing, typically in exchange for a fee and, unlike refinancing, the original loan remains in place.  The A&E transaction arranged for Buckeye amends a $200 million syndicated transaction that CFC arranged in 2011.  Click here for more on this story.

A federal appeals court ruled against the Ecological Rights Foundation in finding that utility poles should not be regulated under the Clean Water Act.  With fewer customers per mile of line than the industry average, coops would have felt a disproportionate impact of any regulation.  The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association filed a brief in this case supporting the position that preservatives in the wood used in utility poles are not point sources of pollution as defined under the Clean Water Act.  Electric Co-op Today has the full story.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) voted unanimously on March 28 to exempt electric coops from certain regulations under the financial reform laws.  Specifically, certain non-financial energy derivative transactions between and among coops and municipal utilities, federal power agencies, federal entities with electric assets, and Indian tribes will be exempt from most of the requirements of the Commodity Exchange Act.  However, financially settled swaps done for speculative purposes between these entities would not be exempt.  For more information, click here.

The governments of the islands of Maui and Molokai in Hawaii are considering creating a new coop or municipal utility.  A representative said that Maui County Mayor Alan Arakawa has stated that his preference is to continue working with Maui Electric Co. (MECO), a subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Co.  However, the county may try to form a municipal utility if MECO does not upgrade its facilities to add more solar and wind power capabilities.  Pacific Business News has more on this story.

Arkansas-based Ozarks Electric Cooperative Corporation (Ozarks) has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by a former employee and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for alleged religious discrimination.  The EEOC alleged that Ozarks denied the employee a requested day off to attend a Jehovah's Witness convention, then terminated her when she chose to attend the convention rather than report to work.  The settlement includes a $95,000 payment for the former employee.  Read more here.

Indianapolis-based Wabash Valley Power Association recently closed on a $100 million syndicated transaction arranged by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC).  In addition to CFC, four other lenders participated in the five-year senior unsecured revolving credit facility, but CFC will serve as administrative agent for the facility, which consolidates the G&T’s bilateral lines of credit with CFC and several commercial banks.  Click here to read more.