Updated at 3:21 p.m.
Three rural electric cooperatives that serve Colorado are set to get a federal boost.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, United Power and CORE Electric Cooperative are three of 16 co-ops selected to split $7.3 billion in financing to build clean energy generation for rural communities across the country.
President Joe Biden is expected to make the official announcement later today. It’s part of a new program called Empowering Rural America (New ERA), made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act, his signature climate, health care and tax law.
“This is rural energy by and for rural Americans. It is not something that we have cooked up here in Washington. It is something that the co-ops want to pursue,” said Kristina Costa, deputy assistant to the president for clean energy, innovation and implementation.
She said the program will help to lower costs for co-ops so they can “go farther, faster in building clean energy technologies that they want to build out to serve their members.”
Colorado Democrats applauded the news.
“Cheaper, cleaner, more reliable electricity for rural Coloradans is a win-win-win,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper in a statement.
Hickenlooper and his fellow Colorado senator, Michael Bennet, announced that up to $1.16 billion will be available for the three providers.
“This funding will enable the critical work of helping modernize co-op energy infrastructure across rural Colorado to lower energy costs for families, farms, ranches and small businesses, and to drive opportunity in rural communities,” said Bennet.
Two of the projects will impact parts of Rep. Yadira Caraveo’s 8th Congressional District. She said she hears a lot from constituents about their high electric bills.
“The projects selected by the USDA as finalists for New ERA will not only help Colorado continue to lead the way in clean energy generation, it will also help Coloradans by cutting energy costs and easing their bottom line,” stated Caraveo.
United Power is expected to utilize the funding to help provide more than 760 megawatts from renewable sources, including through power purchase agreements. It’s also expected to bring an additional 460 megawatts of solar generation online by 2030, including some from an agrivoltaic project. The coop serves around 100,000 customers, primarily northeast of Denver.
“The Empowering Rural America New ERA investment will have an immediate positive impact on all United Power members who have experienced increased costs for food, property taxes, insurance, and all utilities over the past few years,” United Power President and CEO Mark Gabriel said in a statement, noting the investments will benefit the communities they serve for generations to come.
CORE, which has around 170,000 customers to the east and southwest of the Denver metro, is expected to use the investment to procure about 550 megawatts of renewable energy through power purchase agreements, which will create short- and long-term jobs. CORE also plans to invest in about 100 megawatts of energy storage.
“These efforts are estimated to provide more than 1.9 million MWh of GHG-free energy annually, create new short and long-term jobs, reduce costs for member-owners, and help meet Colorado’s clean energy goals,” CORE Electric Cooperative CEO Pam Feuerstein said in a statement.
Tri-State, which serves Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming, will use the funding to support the retirement of some of its coal-fired power plants in Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado and procure 1480 megawatts of renewables. The company said it expects the transformative shift in resources to create around 2,200 short- and long-term jobs.
Editor's Note: And earlier version of this story incorrectly described which states are served by Tri-State Generation. It has been corrected.
