A power cooperative based in the Denver suburbs that supplies electricity to more than a million consumers in the West will receive $2.5 billion in USDA grants and loans for a mammoth solar, wind, and battery energy project, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will announce on Friday. As part of the project, the Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association would retire 1,100 megawatts of coal-fired electricity generation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 5.8 million tons a year.
The project was expected to lower electric rates by 10 percent for cooperative members by 2034, said the USDA. Funding for the project comes from the USDA’s Empowering Rural America Program, described as the largest investment in rural electrification since the New Deal. Tri-State was among 13 cooperatives selected in early September for so-called New ERA funding, but it had to go through the underwriting process.
While in Colorado for the announcement, Vilsack said that an additional six rural electric cooperatives had been selected for nearly $1 billion of New ERA funding. With the latest round of co-ops, the USDA has announced $8.3 billion in New ERA funding.
“These projects will strengthen America’s energy security while increasing access to affordable and reliable clean energy for people across the nation,” said Vilsack. A Biden administration official said the New ERA program would reduce high energy costs in rural areas.
Tri-State would acquire 1,480 megawatts of power from wind, solar, and battery storage in portions of Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Wyoming. A megawatt is enough electricity to power 400 to 900 homes for a year.