Megan Wittman, megan.wittman@sierraclub.org
Maple Grove, MINNESOTA – Today President Biden announced that Great River Energy (GRE) has been selected as a finalist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, a novel program of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. GRE’s selection lines up the utility to procure 1,275 megawatts of clean energy across rural communities in Minnesota and North Dakota, including large-scale wind energy projects and distributed renewable energy projects. GRE serves 1.7 million rural electric members.
GRE’s investments from New ERA funding are estimated to create over 1,600 jobs, reduce costs for GRE’s members by $30 million on average annually, and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5.5 million tons each year, or the equivalent emissions of 1.3 million gasoline cars.
The New ERA program authorized USDA to disperse $9.7 billion to drive clean energy investments through grants and low-cost loans. With today’s announcement, GRE and 15 other rural electric cooperatives across the country have been identified in the first tranche of recipients, expected in aggregate to receive more than $7.3 billion in federal grants and loans. The projects funded by today’s announcement will drive an estimated $29 billion in new clean energy investments, and reduce or avoid nearly 44 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. This funding will allow these leading electric cooperatives, who serve more than one-fifth of rural Americans, to tap low cost clean energy, improving affordability and resilience, and lowering costs for their members.
“We’re excited to celebrate this announcement from President Biden and his administration,” said Patty O’Keefe, Senior Campaign Strategist, Sierra Club. “This award will bolster our rural economies and cut pollution from fossil fuel power plants. Prioritizing our rural communities is essential as we continue towards a clean energy future, and we are excited for GRE to make this transition for a better Minnesota.”
“GRE is charting a thoughtful and community centered pathway to the rural energy transition with the help of New ERA,” said Erik Hatlestad, Director of Rural Cooperative Energy at CURE. “Farmers, workers, and rural communities will reap the benefits of the largest investment in rural electrification in history.”
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About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with millions of members and supporters. In addition to protecting every person's right to get outdoors and access the healing power of nature, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.