The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced US$4.37 billion in clean energy investments for rural utilities through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) programme.
USDA says rural electric cooperatives will use the funding to support jobs, lower business and residential electricity costs, and reduce climate pollution. The New ERA program, established by US President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction ACT (IRA), provides funding to member-owned rural electric cooperatives.
The US$4.37 billion funding will be awarded to 10 rural electric cooperatives, with six of them stating that they will use part of the funding to add battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity to their grids:
| Cooperative | Location | Amount awarded | Planned use |
| Connexus Energy | Minnesota | US$170 million | Procure over 282MW of hydro, solar and wind. Purchase 20MW BESS projects |
| CORE Electric | Colorado | US$225 million | Procure 550MW of wind and solar, 100MW BESS projects |
| Georgia Transmission | Georgia | US$325 million | New transmission lines, upgrades to existing transmission assets |
| Nebraska Electric G&T | Nebraska | US$200 million | Procure 725MW of wind and solar projects in Butler, Burt, and Custer counties |
| Oglethorpe Power | Georgia | US$331.5 million | Refinance loans for the retired Hal B. Wansley coal plat for a planned annual savings of US$7.7 million to be passed on to its 38 member cooperatives |
| San Miguel Electric | Texas | US$1.4 billion | Procure 600MW of solar and BESS projects to support conversion from Lignite-fueled power |
| Seminole Electric | Florida | US$1.3 billion | Procure 700MW of utility-scale solar and BESS projects |
| Trico Electric | Arizona | US$43 million | Procure 80MW of solar, 80MW of BESS projects |
| United Power | Colorado | US$262 million | Offset cost of transition to clean energy portfolio |
| Yampa Valley Electric Association | Colorado & Wyoming | US$50 million | Procure up to 150MW solar and 75MW BESS projects |
In addition to these 10 cooperatives, the USDA selected six cooperatives to move forward in the process of receiving New ERA funding:
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| Cooperative | Location |
| Grand Valley Rural Power Lines | Colorado |
| Mountain Parks Electric | Colorado |
| San Miguel Power | Colorado |
| 1803 Electric | Louisiana |
| Pacific Northwest Generation | Oregon |
| Inland Power and Light | Washington & Idaho |
The New ERA is also part of the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which requires that 40% of the benefits of federal financing for clean energy investments go to disadvantaged communities.
Part of the Justice40 initiative, Project Maharu, 200MW of solar PV and 285MW/1,140MWh of BESS projects in Puerto Rico received a loan of US$861.3 million from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office (LPO), which has seen a recent trend of soaring grant and loan activity after Donald Trump’s second term election (Premium access article).
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said of the US$4.37 billion investment: “USDA is committed to enhancing the quality of life and improving air and water in our rural communities.”
“The Inflation Reduction Act’s historic investments enable USDA to partner with rural electric cooperatives to strengthen America’s energy security and lower electricity bills for hardworking families, farmers and small business owners.”
In March, the USDA awarded US$2.3 billion for rural energy projects under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) initiative, which provided US$139 million of funding for five energy projects while US$2.2 billion came from the Electric Infrastructure programme.
Before the US$4.37 billion and US$2.3 billion announcements, the DOE announced plans to allocate over US$366 million for 17 clean energy projects in rural and remote areas in the US, covering solar, BESS, microgrids, electric vehicle charging infrastructure projects and more.
In September, the USDA also invested in Alaska utility Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) through the New ERA programme. GVEA received US$206 million from the USDA for three projects, including a 46MW/92MWh BESS in Fairbanks, Alaska.
