Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 11, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development in Ohio State Director Jonathan McCracken announced that Buckeye Power, Inc., headquartered in Columbus will receive a share of $7.3 billion in funding through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program to build clean energy systems in rural communities in Ohio.
“Rural electric cooperatives have played an essential role in ensuring that rural areas not only here in Ohio, but across the country, have access to reliable, affordable electricity,” said McCracken. “In one of the most transformative investments since the New Deal, USDA’s New ERA program is a historic commitment to building stronger rural communities and a more resilient, sustainable power grid that also promotes clean energy.”
Buckeye Power will use its New ERA investment to bolster renewable energy production and storage as the co-op prepares to shutter Unit 3 operations at the coal-fired, Jefferson County-based Cardinal Generating Station. Buckeye’s current renewable portfolio includes solar, anaerobic digestion and biogas, methane generation, and hydropower.
Formed in 1959, Buckeye Power is a generation and transmission cooperative that provides reliable, affordable electricity to its 24 Ohio-based member co-ops, who then distribute it to nearly 400,000 homes and businesses in 77 counties throughout the state.
This investment is expected to reduce harmful air pollution and carbon emissions by the annual equivalent of taking 540,000 gasoline powered cars off the road. Ohio Rural co-ops will also see lower utility bills and invest in 36 megawatts of solar and 80 megawatts of energy storage across the state.
USDA awarded New ERA funding to 16 recipients nationwide and expects this will help deliver cleaner and more affordable energy to approximately five million households across 23 states, representing 20% of the nation’s rural households, farms, businesses, and schools.
New ERA and other investments in rural clean energy through the 2021 Inflation Reduction Act account for the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936 as part of the New Deal.
USDA expects to announce additional New ERA and Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program awards in the coming months.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.
USDA Rural Development has five offices in Ohio – Columbus, Findlay, Hillsboro, Marietta, and Massillon. To learn more about investment resources for rural areas in Ohio, call (614) 255-2400 or visit or visit https://www.rd.usda.gov/oh.