Eversheds Sutherland Coop Law Blog
content top

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Among Stakeholders Opposing Proposed Distribution Transformer Rules

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is among several stakeholders opposed to new energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers. The group of stakeholders asserts the new standards would create significant costs and threaten the supply of transformers.
Continue Reading

Texas Electric Cooperatives Leadership Announces Expansion of Alliance with Rio Grande Electric Cooperative

The Texas Electric Cooperatives (TEC) leadership has announced an expansion of an alliance with Rio Grande Electric Cooperative (RGEC) to include supply chain management. TEC has set up warehouse operations to provide aggregate procurement, material management, order pulling and staging, kitting jobs, job-site delivery, and 24/7 emergency support for RGEC. The expansion will reduce operational costs for RGEC through aggregated purchasing power.
Continue Reading

Montana Cooperative Adds Second Unit to Generate Renewable Energy From Landfill Gas

Flathead Electric Cooperative has been operating its landfill gas project for more than a decade, and the project has been so successful and affordable that it is doubling the capacity by adding an additional unit.  The combined capacity of the two units, drawing methane from the same intake system, is expected to provide enough electricity to meet the needs of 3,200 average homes on the cooperative’s 73,000-meter system.
Continue Reading

A New $750 Million Power Station Will Supply Electricity to a Group of Five Electric Cooperatives in Louisiana

A $750 million, 700-megawatt electric generation plant is being built by Kindle Energy in Iberville Parish.  The Magnolia Power Generating Station will supply power to the 1803 Electric Cooperative, an alliance of five utility groups, and is expected to begin commercial operations in May 2025.
Continue Reading

Three Arkansas Electric Cooperatives Receive More than $137 Million in Federal Funds to Assist in Upgrades

Three rural electric cooperatives in Arkansas are receiving funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist in upgrades that will allow the cooperatives to reduce outage times by detecting power failures automatically.
Continue Reading

Michigan Cooperative to Develop Solar Farm

The Wolverine Power Cooperative has announced its plans to develop a solar farm on 580 acres of land in Otesgo County, Michigan, recently purchased from Georgia-Pacific. The development is a continuation of Wolverine Power Cooperative’s focus on diversifying power supply through renewable sources and creating jobs locally.
Continue Reading

Oregon Cooperative Volunteers to Electrify Guatemalan Village

The Oregon Rural Electric Cooperative Association, an organization of 18 cooperatives from around the state, will be sending 12 volunteers to the village of Ventura in Guatemala to install four miles of power lines that will power 35 homes. The volunteers will also be wiring those homes for electricity.
Continue Reading

New Cybersecurity Solution Being Adopted by Cooperatives

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Essence 3.0 cybersecurity solution has been deployed at nearly 55 electric cooperatives and helps with tracking and mitigating cybersecurity threats.
Continue Reading

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Encourages Policymakers to Focus on Grid Reliability

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s CEO, Jim Matheson, encouraged policymakers to prioritize electric grid reliability in their energy transition policymaking during his recent address before the U.S. Energy Association’s 19th Annual State of the Energy Industry Forum.
Continue Reading

Basin Electric Power Cooperative to Purchase Generating Capacity from Technology Group Wartsila to Ensure Reliability and Expand Offerings

The Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin) will acquire generation balancing capacity through the Pioneer Generation Station Phase IV power plant owned by technology group Wartsila. The six 50SG gas engines have a combined output of 108 megawatts, balancing Basin’s generation from variable renewable resources.
Continue Reading

Electric Cooperatives Take Four of the Top Five Spots on the Annual J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction Poll

The 2022 J.D. Power Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 102,879 online interviews conducted from last January through November, and electric cooperatives dominated the top spots again. Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), headquartered in Cumming, Georgia, was the highest-ranking electric utility overall and Jackson EMC placed second.
Continue Reading

New Power Supply Partnership Between CORE Electric Cooperative and Invenergy

CORE Electric Cooperative (CORE), Colorado’s largest electric distribution cooperative, and Invenergy have entered into a twenty-year agreement to provide CORE with over 1.2 terawatt-hours of renewable energy per year.
Continue Reading

New $9.7 Billion U.S. Department of Agriculture Program to Focus on Renewables

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is in the process of designing a new renewables-focused program to assist rural electric cooperatives with the purchase of renewable energy, renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems and carbon capture and storage systems.
Continue Reading

Missouri Department of Economic Development Awards SEMO Electric Cooperative $16.6 Million for Broadband Development

Through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded $261 million to 60 recipients. SEMO Electric Cooperative was allocated $16,602,060 for three broadband projects in Butler and Stoddard Counties.
Continue Reading