Congressmen Introduce Bill to Support Electric Cooperatives
Posted on Nov 3, 2020
Congressman Neal Dunn, M.D. (Florida-02) and Congressman Darren Soto (Florida-09) introduced the FEMA Loan Interest Payment Relief Act (H.R. 8701) requiring the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse local governments and electric cooperatives for interest incurred on loans used to restore essential functions after natural disasters. The interest paid on emergency loans is often a cost passed on to taxpayers and ratepayers alike.
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Pedernales Electric Cooperative Signs 100-MW PPA on Texas Wind Project
Posted on Nov 2, 2020
EDF Renewables North America and Pedernales Electric Cooperative, the largest distribution electric cooperative in the United States, signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for a 100-MW share of King Creek 1 Wind Project. The project will consist of 47 wind turbine generators and construction is expected to start by the end of 2020. The project will create approximately 300 construction-related jobs during its peak and will benefit the local community over its operating life through land lease, tax and other payments.
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190 Electric Coops Qualify to Bid at FCC’s $16 Billion Broadband Auction
Posted on Oct 27, 2020
About 190 electric cooperatives have qualified to compete for up to $16 billion in the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) largest reverse auction to fund broadband internet for unserved areas across the country. Winning bidders will receive funds over a 10-year period to deploy broadband to unserved census blocks identified by the FCC.
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The Georgia Solution: a Plan to Spur Broadband Deployment
Posted on Oct 27, 2020
The Georgia Solution, which was filed with the Georgia Public Service Commission as part of a rate case that involves fees that cable companies would pay to connect to the electric cooperatives’ utility poles, is aimed at encouraging rural broadband deployments by cable companies and other providers. There are two key parts to the Georgia Solution — the One Buck Deal and the Georgia One-Touch-Make-Ready Program.
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Gas South Plans to Acquire Infinite Energy
Posted on Oct 26, 2020
Gas South, a Cobb County, Georgia-based natural gas marketer and a subsidiary of electric cooperative Cobb EMC, is planning to acquire Infinite Energy, based in Gainesville, Florida. The headquarters for Gas South will remain in Cobb County, where the business employs about 240 people, but the company said it would retain a presence in Gainesville, Florida, where most of Infinite’s 300 employees are located.
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Several Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Infrastructure Banks Ranked World’s Safest for 2020
Posted on Oct 23, 2020
Several cooperative agricultural and rural infrastructure banks, including CoBank, made the Global Finance World’s 50 Safest Banks annual ranking for 2020. The rankings have long been recognized as a trusted standard for individuals and investors to gauge the financial safety of banks.
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Entities Consider Purchase of Coal Creek Plant, with Sustainable Enhancements
Posted on Oct 16, 2020
At least two entities are considering purchasing Great River Energy’s 1,147-MW Coal Creek plant, which was slated for retirement in the second half of 2022. The purchasers are considering operating the plant with enhancements such as carbon capture and storage technologies and building energy storage and wind generation in the area.
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Ubiquity Announces Acquisition of Dallas-Fort Worth Broadband Provider
Posted on Oct 12, 2020
Ubiquity Management, LP (Ubiquity), an investor in critical communications infrastructure throughout the United States, recently announced that it has completed the acquisition of Millennium Telcom, LLC d/b/a OneSource Communications, a provider of fiber-fed broadband services in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, from Tri-County Electric Cooperative. OneSource’s fiber network is within 1,000 feet of approximately 72,000 homes and businesses, and with 6,100 existing customers, the company is positioned for significant growth. The growing residential and business population within the service...
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Missouri Rural Electric Coops to Receive $5.5 Million in Economic Development Support
Posted on Oct 9, 2020
The Trump Administration and Department of Agriculture Rural Development State Director for Missouri announced that eight rural electric cooperatives in Missouri will receive $5.5 million to create jobs and increase economic opportunities throughout the state. The funding will support infrastructure improvements, business development, housing and high-speed internet access in rural areas, amongst other things.
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Members Reject Proposed Merger of Kansas Electric Cooperatives
Posted on Oct 5, 2020
A proposed merger of two northeast Kansas electric cooperatives was recently rejected by coop members. The Boards of Trustees for Nemaha-Marshall Electric Cooperative Association in Axtell, Kansas and Doniphan Electric Cooperative Association in Troy, Kansas had unanimously approved taking the proposed consolidation to their members. Kansas law requires that each cooperative receive at least two-thirds approval by members.
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NRECA Receives DOE Funding to Strengthen Cybersecurity
Posted on Oct 2, 2020
The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) will use $6 million in Department of Energy (DOE) funding to develop and deliver its cybersecurity tool, Essence, to cooperatives nationwide. Essence continually monitors for cyber threats and enables the utility industry to share characteristics of an incident to help detect large, coordinated cyberattacks.
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NRECA Earns $6 Million Grant from Department of Energy to Boost Cybersecurity
Posted on Sep 28, 2020
The Department of Energy recently awarded the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association a $6 million grant to expand ongoing research and development into electric coop cybersecurity tools. Specifically, the grant will enable a three-year project, known as Essence 2.0, which will provide NRECA’s member cooperatives with a revolutionary cyber monitoring tool that enables machine-to-machine learning and is designed to quickly detect and share information about anomalies in utility network traffic. The Essence 2.0 project builds on NRECA’s existing cyber readiness and prevention tools and...
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Arizona Coop Considers Sale of Natural Gas Division
Posted on Sep 25, 2020
Graham County Electric Coop will move forward with the potential sale of its natural gas division upon the affirmative two-thirds vote of its members on October 17th. The division has not made any money since 1989, is projected to lose $291,000 this year, and is $2.625 million in debt. Southwest Gas has expressed an interest in purchasing the division.
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Colorado Coop Helps Community Build Microgrid
Posted on Sep 23, 2020
Poudre Valley REA is working with the Red Feather Lakes community to install a microgrid, which will be a 140-kilowatt/448-kilowatt-hour battery with 3.2 hours of energy storage interconnected with generation resources.
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