The USDA announced on Friday it would deliver more than $3 billion to electric cooperatives under the Inflation Reduction Act in an effort to lower electricity costs and speed up the transition to cleaner power.
About $2.5 billion of the funding will go to Colorado-based cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, while nearly $1 billion will be allocated across six cooperatives that serve territories in Minnesota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas.
Funding comes from the Empowering Rural America Program, known as New ERA, a $9.7 billion program that the Biden administration has touted as the largest investment in rural power development since the 1936 Rural Electrification Act.
“By helping rural cooperatives upgrade infrastructure and invest in newer, lower-cost clean electricity projects, these investments will benefit rural families and businesses who for too long have faced disproportionately high energy costs due to the challenges of providing electricity in remote communities,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said in a press release announcing the funding.
