FAIRBANKS, ALASKA, Sept. 11, 2024 – U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Alaska State Director Julia Hnilicka announced that Golden Valley Electric Association and Alaska Electric and Energy Cooperative Inc., will receive a share of $7.3 billion in funding through the Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program and $200 million in loan through the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program (PACE) to build clean energy systems in rural communities in Alaska.
“Rural electric cooperatives have played an essential role in ensuring that rural areas not only here in Alaska, but across the country, have access to reliable, affordable electricity,” said Hnilicka. “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.”
Tomorrow Hnilicka, together with Golden Valley Electric Association (GVEA) and Homer Electric Association (HEA) will conduct a special briefing to highlight two key programs that have awarded millions in financing to Alaska Railbelt electric utilities through New ERA and PACE programs during the Alaska Power Association 2024 Annual meeting.
GVEA will use its New ERA investment to add up to 150 megawatts of renewable wind energy onto their system in Interior Alaska. It will also include constructing a battery energy storage system and significant transmission infrastructure to reliably interconnect large-scale variable generation onto Alaska’s unique grid. This investment will create up to 300 short- and long-term jobs, stabilize costs to rural cooperative members, and reduce carbon emissions by over 460,000 tons each year, which is the equivalent of removing 110,000 gasoline-powered cars annually.
Formed in 1946, GVEA is a not-for-profit rural electric cooperative that provides reliable electricity to over 36,000 members in Interior Alaska.
This investment will create up to 300 short- and long-term jobs, stabilize costs to rural cooperative members, and reduce carbon emissions by over 460,000 tons each year, which is the equivalent of removing 110,000 gasoline-powered cars annually.
GVEA has also been selected to receive $100 million through the PACE program to build a 46-megawatt battery energy storage system (BESS). The PACE program is part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which represents the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936. With $1 billion in funding, PACE helps make clean, affordable, and reliable energy accessible to the people of rural America. The BESS energy storage is essential to provide rural Alaskans with reliable clean energy. This a critical part of the people of Alaska’s efforts to create a transformative clean energy economy that protects their natural environment while providing reliable, affordable energy to their communities.
Another recipient of the PACE program is the Alaska Electric and Energy Cooperative Inc. which has been selected to receive $100 million to install a 45-megawatt four-hour battery energy storage system adjacent to its Soldotna Substation. The cooperative is a wholly owned subsidiary of HEA a distribution electric utility serving over 24,330 members across more than 3,000 square miles in Alaska’s western and southern Kenai Peninsula.
Last week USDA announced 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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