ST. PAUL, Minn., Jan. 10, 2025 – United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director for Minnesota Colleen Landkamer today announced more than $825 million in clean energy investments through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. Rural electric cooperatives and communities will use the funding to support thousands of jobs, lower electricity costs for businesses and families, and reduce climate pollution by millions of tons each year.
“In just two years, the New ERA and program has created strong partnerships with rural electric cooperatives and communities that will reduce pollution, create jobs and make clean energy more affordable for communities in rural Minnesota,” State Director Landkamer said. “These investments we’re making today will continue to support the health, prosperity and well-being of rural Minnesotans for generations to come.”
USDA is providing $825.3 million to finance nine clean energy projects in Minnesota. Details on all of these awards are available on the New ERA website. The projects include:
- Blue Earth-Nicollet-Faribault Cooperative Electric Association (BENCO) will use a $525,000 investment to provide load management modernization that enables ongoing member involvement in a virtual power plant having up to 400 megawatts of flexible demand capabilities. The investment will help BENCO continue providing electric service to nearly 20,000 south central Minnesota customers and improve energy efficiency, increase grid stability, allow and provide greater flexibility in responding to temporary shifts in energy needs.
- Dakota Electric Association will use a $500,000 investment to deploy a new advanced distribution management system to more efficiently operate and control distributed resources across their service territory in Minnesota. This enables ongoing member involvement in Great River Energy’s virtual power plant that has up to 400 megawatts of flexible demand capabilities. This New ERA project will allow Dakota Electric Association to continue providing electricity to nearly 115,000 customers in Dakota, Rice, Scott, and Goodhue counties.
- East Central Energy will use a $625,000 investment to upgrade nearly 8,400 field devices to control loads during peak times in rural areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Investment in this load management modernization enables ongoing member involvement in a virtual power plant having up to 400 megawatts of flexible demand capabilities. These projects will create around five short-term jobs and reduce climate pollution by reducing their dependence on dispatchable resources like natural gas our diesel generators.
- Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association will use a $250,000 investment to continue involvement in Great River Energy’s virtual power plant that shifts more than 400 megawatts of energy in Minnesota, including Goodhue County and portions of the surrounding counties in southeast Minnesota. This project will shift roughly 2 megawatts of electrical load, which is enough to power approximately 200 homes during the system peak.
- Great River Energy will use a $794 million investment to procure 1,275 megawatts of renewable energy in rural areas across Minnesota and North Dakota. Projects will include large-scale wind energy, distributed renewable energy and other innovative investments. The investment is expected to create over 1,600 jobs, reduce costs for members by approximately $40 million each year, and climate pollution by over 5.49 million tons each year.
- Lake County Power will use a $1.2 million investment to modernize its demand side management system with up to 50 megawatts (depending on the season) of dispatchable load as part of a virtual power plant in rural Minnesota. This will provide needed capacity for roughly 13,000 homes during peak energy times. It is estimated that Lake Country Power's virtual power plant will save members $250,000 per month during the summer and $700,000 per month during the winter.
- Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative will use a $900,000 investment to implement a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) software-based platform with a wide range of capabilities for their members in their service territory in Minnesota. This enables ongoing member involvement in Great River Energy’s virtual power plant that has up to 400 megawatts of flexible demand capabilities.
Stearns Cooperative Electric Association will use a $9.7 million investment to procure 10 megawatts of clean, renewable energy and add 16 megawatts to the GRE virtual power plant in rural Minnesota. The clean renewable energy will power nearly 1,720 homes each year. The New ERA grant will save Stearns Electric Association over $2.3 million, or nearly $83 per member, in capital costs.
- Steele-Waseca Cooperative Electric will use a $16.6 million investment to construct 8.6 megawatts of clean, renewable energy from wind and solar facilities in rural Minnesota. This will power nearly 2,100 homes each year. These projects will create around 25 short-term jobs and reduce climate pollution by nearly 32,000 tons each year.
USDA has now awarded roughly 90% of total available New ERA funding to benefit rural electric cooperatives and their members, obligating approximately $9 billion of the program’s $9.7 billion budget authority. This represents more than $14.5 billion in grants and loans benefiting 35 states, with rural electric cooperatives committing to build or purchase more than 13 gigawatts of clean energy. These projects will create good-paying jobs, lower energy costs for rural communities, significantly reduce pollution, enhance the resiliency of the nation’s electric grid. For more information, see the New ERA fact sheet.
Additional details on all funding recipients and selectees are available on the New ERA website.
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