USDA Awards Rural Development Loans & Grants to Several Coops
Posted on Oct 20, 2015
The Secretary of Agriculture has just announced $12.5 million in loans and grants to aid rural businesses and create jobs, including over $1 million for electric cooperatives. Click here to view a full list of recipients.
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Cross-State Coop Merger in the Works
Posted on Oct 19, 2015
Customer-members of Kentucky’s Hickman Fulton Counties Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation recently voted in favor of approving a merger with Tennessee’s Gibson Electric Membership Corporation. Gibson Electric’s customer-members will vote on the merger at a November 17 special meeting.
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New Fitch Report Indicates Several States Hit Hardest by Clean Power Plan
Posted on Oct 14, 2015
In a newly released analysis of the potential impacts of the Clean Power Plan, Fitch Ratings has indicated that electric cooperatives and public power utilities in a handful of states could face major challenges in complying with the new regulations. The report analyzes the impact of the Clean Power Plan on the 47 states that have electric cooperatives using Fitch’s Carbon Cost Recovery Index.
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90 Miles of CapX2020 Transmission Line Energized
Posted on Oct 14, 2015
Owners of the CapX2020 project, including Dairyland Power Cooperative, recently celebrated the energization of approximately 90 miles of newly completed transmission line segments located in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The CapX2020 project is a major transmission project which represents part of the largest expansion of transmission in the Upper Midwest region in decades and is expected to potentially unlock an expansion of wind energy in the region.
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6th Circuit Issues Stay Regarding EPA Water Rule
Posted on Oct 14, 2015
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals (6th Circuit) issued a stay on October 9 regarding the Waters of the United States rule of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers. The stay will remain in effect until the 6th Circuit has decided whether it has jurisdiction over the challenge to the regulations brought by states, utilities and other groups.
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Wisconsin Electric Coops Install Community Solar Systems for $2 per Watt
Posted on Oct 14, 2015
Eau Claire Energy Coop is installing the largest utility-owned solar power system in the state, capable of delivering 875 kilowatts of DC power. The coop’s Member Solar program offers shares of the system to member-customers for $650 per panel or $2.10 per watt.
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Tri-State Announces 25-Megawatt Alta Luna Solar Project Partnership
Posted on Oct 14, 2015
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, Inc. (Tri-State) and D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments, L.L.C. have announced a 25-year contract to supply the utility with renewable energy from the planned Alta Luna Solar Project to be constructed in Luna County in southwest New Mexico.
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Arkansas Electric Joins in Cyber Attack Prevention Research
Posted on Oct 12, 2015
Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (Arkansas Electric) has teamed up with researchers from five universities in an effort to ensure increased security for the nation’s electric power grid. Arkansas Electric will serve as an industry partner to researchers working in conjunction with the Department of Energy Center for Securing Electric Energy Delivery Systems.
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City of Bushnell Attempting to Purchase SECO’s Electric Territory
Posted on Oct 9, 2015
Despite resistance from Sumter Electric Cooperative (SECO), the city of Bushnell (City) is attempting to exercise an option at the end of its 30-year lease to buy SECO’s substation, power lines and territory to prepare for future growth. The purchase would allow the City’s electric utility to grow because its electric system is surrounded by SECO’s electric territory and almost everything inside the City’s territory is built out. Currently SECO serves the City’s 527 residential and commercial customers with lower rates than those charged by the City.
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Integrated Test Center to be Located at Basin Electric’s Dry Creek Station
Posted on Oct 9, 2015
Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s (Basic Electric) Dry Fork Station near Gillette, WY will be home to the new Integrated Test Center (ITC). The research at the ITC will lead to new opportunities in petrochemicals and other commercial uses for carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants. Mike Easley, Chairman of the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority, says: “We have a real opportunity to take the CO2 from coal emissions and transform them from a liability into valuable products.”
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Eighth Circuit Upholds FERC Rule on Coop Avoided Cost Rates
Posted on Oct 8, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has upheld the long-standing determination by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that the avoided cost rate paid by a distribution cooperative for energy purchased from a qualifying cogeneration or small power production facility (QF) is the same as the avoided cost rate of the distribution coop’s generation and transmission (G&T) all-requirements supplier.
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Solar Shortages Threaten Cooperative Utility Projects
Posted on Oct 8, 2015
Shortages of solar panel equipment are expected in 2016, with lead times of up to six months for larger orders. Dan Danley, contract technical liaison with NRECA’s Business and Technology Strategies unit, has been warning utilities to plan ahead to avoid solar project delays. The projected shortages are the result of increased demand for solar equipment driven in part by a 30 percent federal tax credit for solar farms. Demand may fall, however, if Congress allows the tax credit to fall to 10 percent after December 2016.
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Settlement Reached for Utah Coal Plant
Posted on Oct 7, 2015
Deseret Electric Power Cooperative (Deseret), WildEarth Guardians, the Sierra Club and federal regulators have reached an agreement establishing limits on the amount of coal that the Bonanza Power Plant, located in Uintah County, Utah, may burn. The limits imposed by the deal could result in the early retirement of the Bonanza Power Plant, but Deseret believes the deal will allow for an energy mix transition that occurs in a sensible manner over time.
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Colorado Coop Institutes New Charge for Solar Customers
Posted on Oct 7, 2015
The board of Colorado-based cooperative Intermountain Rural Electric Association (IREA) recently voted to institute a new charge on customers that rely on solar power during the day and IREA at night. The new charge, called a “Load Factor Adjustment” is meant to recover costs of service from IREA customers with solar panels that sell excess power to IREA by way of net metering. The adjustment is scheduled to go into effect on December 31, 2015.
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