Eversheds Sutherland Coop Law Blog
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SEEM Members Submit Filing for Proposed Advanced Bilateral Market Platform

The Southeast Energy Exchange Market (SEEM) members recently filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for the approval of an automated, intra-hour energy exchange that aims to lower costs to customers and optimize renewable energy resources. The new SEEM platform will facilitate sub-hourly, bilateral trading, allowing participants to buy and sell power close to the time the energy is consumed, utilizing available unreserved transmission. Founding members of SEEM are expected to include Associated Electric Cooperative, Dalton Utilities, Dominion Energy South Carolina, Duke Energy...
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Coops, Wireless and Partnerships Likeliest Ways to Connect Rural America

A recent report produced by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond shows that coops, wireless and partnerships are the best ways to bring broadband to rural America. The biggest challenges to the cooperative approach are ambiguous laws regarding broadband provision by coops.
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Oklahoma Court Confirms Big Businesses Must Stick with Electric Cooperative

A large industrial Oklahoma cooperative customer brought suit seeking to add a well powered by Northwestern Electric Cooperative to an energy supply it receives from an investor-owned utility as a cost-saving measure. An Oklahoma Court confirmed the order of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission keeping the cooperative as the power provider.
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NRECA International to Operate Nigerian Utility

NRECA International has signed a $10 million, five-year contract to take over the operation of a struggling distribution utility in south-central Nigeria and transform it into a profitable company that provides high-quality service to its customers.
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Two More Georgia Cooperatives to Offer Broadband

Central Georgia Electric Membership Corp. and Southern Rivers Energy, two Georgia electric cooperatives, say they and partners will invest more than $200 million to extend broadband internet to more than 80,000 customers in 18 counties between Atlanta and Macon.
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NRECA Urges Congress to Pass $10 Billion in Low-Income Energy Aid

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and six other energy groups wrote a letter to leaders of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and related agencies urging Congress to approve an additional $10 billion in emergency assistance to low-income Americans struggling to pay their electric bills during the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter asks for additional funds to be added to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides help with home heating and cooling for low-income households, including the...
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NRECA Expresses Concerns Regarding Winning Bidders in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), accompanied by a white paper from the NRECA and the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative, detailing concerns about certain winning bids in the first phase of the recent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction and offering remedies if an FCC review determines that any winners are unable to meet the commitments set forth in their bids.
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Southwest Power Pool Starts Energy Balancing Market in West

Southwest Power Pool announced on Monday, February 1, that at midnight it launched its Western Energy Imbalance Service (WEIS) market. Several regional utilities are participating in this WEIS market, including Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Deseret Power Electric Cooperative and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association.
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Iowa Coop Receives REDLG Loan to Assist Local Business Expansion

Pella Cooperative Electric Association, an Iowa electric cooperative, and Co-Line Welding, Inc. successfully secured a $1 million loan through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) program to assist with a $6,675,000 building expansion for Co-Line, a metal fabrication and manufacturing business and a member of Pella Cooperative Electric Association. The REDLG program provides zero-interest loans to rural utility providers, such as Pella Cooperative Electric, that in turn re-lend the money at zero interest to businesses within...
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Members of Congress Call on the FCC to Vet Prospective Rural Broadband Providers

A bipartisan group of senators and House members asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to verify the promises that broadband providers are making in their bid proposals to the recent Rural Digital Opportunity Fund Auction. This request is being made at the urging of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association due to the concerns that some of the winning bidders may not have the technical, financial, managerial or operational skills and resources to support their ambitious plans.
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Louisiana Coops Issue RFP for 925 MW of Capacity

On December 23, 2020, Southwest Louisiana Electric Membership Corporation, Pointe Coupee Electric Membership Corporation and Concordia Electric Cooperative Inc. issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking power supply solutions for annual peak demand of 925 MW and 2,900,000 MWh of annual energy. The RFP was jointly issued, but the coops anticipate executing separate independent contracts for services.
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Electric Cooperatives Create Electric Vehicle Charging Network

A coalition of 29 electric cooperatives has created an electric vehicle charging network across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa designed to encourage coop consumer-members to drive electric vehicles (EVs). The coalition invested over $100,000 in more than 40 Level 2 and Level 3 chargers provided by ZEF Energy Inc. to form the CHARGE EV network.
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Tatanka Ridge Wind Farm Achieved Commercial Operation; Dairyland Power Cooperative the Offtaker

Tatanka Ridge Wind Farm, a 56-wind turbine facility located in Deuel County, South Dakota, achieved commercial operation on January 5, 2021. Dairyland Power Cooperative has a power purchase agreement with Tatanka Ridge Wind, LLC, for 51.6 MW of renewable energy. Dairyland’s portion of Tatanka Ridge’s output will deliver enough renewable energy to power approximately 16,000 homes.
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Northeastern REMC to Utilize Battery Storage System

In December, Northeastern REMC contracted with battery maker FlexGen for a total of 31 MW of lithium iron phosphate batteries to be fully operational by 2023. The 109-megawatt-hour battery energy storage system, one of the largest to be owned and operated by an electric coop, is expected to save coop members $35 million over the next two decades.
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