Eversheds Sutherland Coop Law Blog
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Kansas Cooperative to Build Two Solar Farms

Ninnescah Rural Electric Cooperative recently announced plans to build two 1 MW solar farms as a part of a larger cooperation between 12 rural electric cooperatives and Arkansas company Today’s Power, Inc. The projects are expected to help reduce the cost of electricity for members.
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Vermont Governor Appoints Chair to Broadband Board

Vermont Governor Phil Scott appointed Patty Richards, the general manager of Washington Electric Cooperative, to the state’s newly established Vermont Community Broadband Board. The Board is responsible for awarding grants and assisting with the planning, development and implementation of broadband projects.
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NRECA, Coops Apply for Federal Electric Vehicle Grants

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) has joined with 17 of its member electric cooperatives to apply for $8 million in federal grants to bring electric vehicles to low-income rural communities.
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CFC’s Trend Analysis Demonstrate Cooperatives’ Financial Strength

The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC) has analyzed preliminary data for its 2020 Key Ratio Trend Analysis report, an annual assessment of financial trends among electric distribution cooperatives nationwide. The results show the majority of electric cooperatives have maintained strong financial metrics and have successfully managed through last year’s economic downturn.
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PrecisionHawk Collaborates with NRECA to Train UAV Pilots Conducting Electric Grid Inspections

PrecisionHawk, Inc., a leading provider of actionable intelligence for enterprises’ physical assets, today announced it is collaborating with the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) to bring a new wave of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) instruction to electric coops across the United States. The course and skills assessment are designed to increase unmanned aircraft systems pilots’ ability to inspect electricity transmission and distribution assets more safely and efficiently.
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Northern Neck Broadband Project to Deliver Universal Internet Access

Northern Neck Electric Cooperative, Dominion Energy Virginia and All Points Broadband recently celebrated groundbreaking on the first phase of a project that will deliver fiber-optic broadband access to approximately 7,200 currently unserved households and businesses in Virginia’s Northern Neck region. This phase of the project will use a $10 million grant from the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, along with federal and local funding and private investment. Dominion Energy is installing over 200 miles of fiber from Fredericksburg to Kilmarnock, which will serve as the backbone for the...
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Louisiana Electric Cooperative to Offer Broadband Services

A rural Louisiana electric coop has decided to go into the broadband internet business. The board of directors of Northeast Louisiana Electric Power Cooperative voted Tuesday to borrow $54 million to set up the infrastructure for broadband access in its coverage area.
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Alabama Electric Cooperative Hit by Ransomware Attack

Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, which serves about 25,000 members in southeastern Alabama, announced that it was hit by a ransomware attack that temporarily prevented customers from accessing their account information. According to Wiregrass Electric Cooperative, no data was compromised in the attack, but member account information and payment systems were taken offline for maintenance and as a precaution.
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Great River Energy Finds Buyer for Coal Creek Station

The search for a new owner for Coal Creek Station is over, as a Bismarck-based company has reached a deal with operator Great River Energy to purchase the power plant. Affiliates of Rainbow Energy Marketing Corp. will acquire the McLean County, North Dakota plant and its transmission line for an undisclosed price.
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NRECA and Other Coops Aid in Rollout of ODIN

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), along with the National Information Solutions Cooperative and several other coops and public power districts, are supporting development and deployment of the Outage Data Initiative Nationwide system, or ODIN. ODIN, which is now available for deployment and use, provides outage details by county, postal code or geo-position, including data on repair and restoration estimates.
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CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative Urges Congress to Boost Carbon Capture Technologies

Mac McLennan, President and CEO of Minnkota Power Cooperative, recently urged members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy to prioritize reliability and resiliency in the wake of power stability issues across the country. Specifically, Mr. McLennan asked Congress to support carbon capture technologies through passage of the Carbon Capture Modernization Act. This bill would make it easier for electric cooperatives to access incentives to retrofit coal plants with technologies that capture carbon dioxide emissions.
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Electric Cooperative in Florida Donates $2 Million

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative (WREC) donated more than half a million dollars to two high schools in Hernando and Pasco counties and awarded $1.3 million in post-secondary scholarships to children of members in its five-county service area. Funding came from WREC’s educational foundation.
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Broadband Access Expanding in Virginia

The Governor of Virginia, Ralph Northam, recently signed HB2304 and SB1413 in Franklin, Virginia. The law will expand broadband access in Virginia by allowing investor-owned electric utilities to recover costs of, and revenue from, expanding broadband to unserved areas. This paves the way for Virginia’s electric cooperatives to create partnerships with other investor-owned electric utilities to establish broadband in their service areas.
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NRECA Concerned Over Increasing Postal Rates

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is concerned about postal rate increases well above inflation that will go into effect in August. Rural communities that rely on the postal service are particularly hurt by these rate increases.
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