U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Wisconsin State Director Frank Frassetto announced today that USDA is awarding over $84 million to improve rural electric resilience in Wisconsin and surrounding states.
“This investment will help develop and maintain modern, reliable electric infrastructure that businesses and rural communities need to strengthen and improve the quality of life for rural residents” said Frassetto. “USDA partners with rural electric utilities and cooperatives so they can continue to provide affordable power to their customers.”
Dairyland Power is receiving a $84,760,000 loan to build 18 miles and upgrade 174 miles of electric transmission line in municipalities located in Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They will also make improvements at several generating plants. Dairyland Power is a non-profit generation and transmission cooperative that provides wholesale electric service and has a diversified mix of generation resources consisting of coal, hydro, natural gas, wind, biomass, animal waste and solar. Its service territory is 59 percent residential, 15 percent small commercial and 26 percent large commercial. Dairyland's member cooperatives serve over 263,000 consumers.
Today’s announcement came as part of a larger statement from Acting Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development Joel Baxley in which he said USDA is investing $485 million to upgrade rural electric systems and reduce energy costs. The funding includes nearly $7.1 million for smart grid technologies that improve system operations and monitor grid security. USDA is providing financing through the Electric Loan Program for 10 projects in Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. These investments will help build or improve 2,635 miles of line.
In April 2017, President Donald J. Trump established the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity to identify legislative, regulatory and policy changes that could promote agriculture and prosperity in rural communities. In January 2018, Secretary Perdue presented the Task Force’s findings to President Trump. These findings included 31 recommendations to align the federal government with state, local and tribal governments to take advantage of opportunities that exist in rural America. Increasing investments in rural infrastructure is a key recommendation of the task force.
To view the report in its entirety, please view the Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity (PDF, 5.4 MB). In addition, to view the categories of the recommendations, please view the Rural Prosperity infographic (PDF, 190 KB).
USDA Rural Development provides loans and grants to help expand economic opportunities and create jobs in rural areas. This assistance supports infrastructure improvements; business development; housing; community facilities such as schools, public safety and health care; and high-speed internet access in rural areas. For more information, visit www.rd.usda.gov/wi.