Coops Could Be Affected by Shutdown
Posted on Oct 1, 2013
Coops could feel the pinch of the federal government’s shutdown because agencies responsible for transmission and distribution could close until Congress successfully enacts a stopgap or long-term spending bill. Generally, only those services deemed “essential” by federal officials will remain open. One of the services affected will be the Rural Utilities Service, which will not make loans or advances for rural electric and telecommunications infrastructure. Therefore, coop borrowers will be unable to make or pay off loans, which will, in turn, halt the Rural Economic Development Loan and...
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G&Ts Work Together to Negotiate Indentures
Posted on Sep 30, 2013
A group of 10 regional generation and transmission (G&T) cooperatives recently worked with the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to convert existing mortgages to indentures, facilitating easier access to private financing for the electric coops they serve in Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Through the conversions, which were successful in part due to the unique relationship between each of the G&Ts and their respective “Super G&T,” each organization was able to switch from a traditional RUS mortgage—which limits borrowing from other lenders without the...
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Coop Uses Crowdfunding to Create Additional Wind Power
Posted on Sep 30, 2013
East River Electric Cooperative (EREC), a supplier of electric power for rural areas of South Dakota and Minnesota, is using crowdfunding to add more wind power to its portfolio. Crowdfunding is a new method through which many writers, artists, designers, and entrepreneurs get their projects funded by strangers. EREC crowdfunded from the communities it serves to finance a portion of a wind farm project and received investments from more than 600 of its customers. Each investor bought shares at $15,000, which work like a bank’s certificate of deposit, offering a 7% return every six months,...
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NRECA Receives $3.6 Million Cyber Security Grant
Posted on Sep 25, 2013
The Department of Energy recently awarded the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) a $3.6 million grant to be used to develop advanced cyber security technology to assist rural cooperatives in monitoring and securely managing their systems from changing threats. NRECA will work with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Carnegie Mellon University, Honeywell Corporation and Cigital Inc. on this project, which will also seek to improve the implementation of cyber security policies and detection and prevention of malicious code. Read more here.
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Nevada Coop May Power Creech Air Force Base
Posted on Sep 24, 2013
NV Energy may be on the verge of giving up its role as the direct source of electricity to Creech Air Force Base, which is located north of Las Vegas. The role would be shared with Nevada coop Valley Electric Association (VEA), which would operate the switches, transformers, and distribution lines to the base in connection with a federal contract it won. NV Energy had filed a complaint stating that VEA is a public utility and would be providing electricity to a non-member if it got to keep this contract. VEA maintained its non-public utility and customer-owned status. The Public...
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Coop Action Plan for EPA Regs
Posted on Sep 24, 2013
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) plans to enlist the support of electric coops and their members nationwide to deal with proposed regulations for future power plants that are built. The new Cooperative Action Network website seeks to organize this movement. NRECA will seek coop input as it develops comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rulemaking. Read more about this story here.
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Coops Continue to Take on EPA’s New Climate Plan
Posted on Sep 24, 2013
Representatives of electric coops across the country are trying to get the following message across on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rulemaking announced September 20: This rulemaking is not feasible and prohibitively expensive. Specifically, the EPA’s rulemaking implementing the Clean Air Act requires future coal-based generation to employ carbon capture and storage technology, but currently this technology is not commercially viable. To make this technology viable would require an investment so large that coops are concerned about skyrocketing costs being pushed on to...
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Coop Industry Group Seeks Reconsideration of Wastewater Rule
Posted on Sep 23, 2013
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider its proposed guidelines for wastewater discharges from coal generation. According to NRECA, the EPA should carefully consider the cost effectiveness of the pending effluent limitations guidelines and especially their potential impact on smaller power producers. The EPA plans to finalize the guidelines by May 22, 2014. Click here for the full story.
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Louisiana Coop Looks to Grow With CFC Financing Deal
Posted on Sep 23, 2013
Jefferson Davis Electric Cooperative (JDEC), based in Jennings, Louisiana, has refinanced more than $10.7 million in outstanding debt with other lenders, becoming a 100-percent National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) borrower. JDEC is expecting substantial growth over the next decade as a result of the ongoing boom in domestic natural gas production. Click here to read more on this story.
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Distribution Coop Approves Community Solar Initiative
Posted on Sep 21, 2013
The board of La Plata Electric Association (LPEA), based in Colorado, recently approved a program where 10 or more members can apply to develop a community solar garden and sell the power back to the coop. LPEA is accepting proposals through year’s end. The Durango Herald has the full story.
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Montana Coop to Purchase Energy from Biomass Facility
Posted on Sep 21, 2013
Flathead Electric Cooperative, Inc. recently entered into a 20-year power purchase agreement with Stoltze Lumber. Sized at approximately 2.5 MW, the biomass facility will use woodchips, sawdust, and bark to create steam which is used in the process of drying lumber and also to generate electricity. KAJ News has the full story.
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EPA Proposes Carbon Standards for New Power Facilities
Posted on Sep 21, 2013
As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a news release outlining carbon standards for new power facilities. The EPA will consider comments and hold a public hearing before completing the rulemaking process. For more information, click here.
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Mitsubishi to Supply Natural Gas Turbines
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative and Mitsubishi have struck a deal for two natural gas turbines to be installed at the coop’s Wildcat Point generation facility in Maryland. The natural gas facility will generate roughly 1,000 MW of electricity and is scheduled for operation in 2017. To learn more about the deal, click here. See the Sutherland Coop Team’s April 24, 2013, post for more about the project.
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Patronage Capital Returned for First Time
Posted on Sep 19, 2013
For the first time in its 75-year history, Vermont Electric Cooperative will return $850,000 to members who were with the coop during 1997 and 2012. Previously the coop would reinvest patronage capital in system upgrades or to fill capital requirements for power agreements. Click here for more information.
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