COMMENTARY
Co-ops Fueling Green Revolution
Editor’s Note: This guest commentary is written by Glenn English,
CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
This summer, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, a
generation and transmission cooperative, embarked on a
remarkable bio-energy project to create an energy production
system that combines an array of subsystems, including an
algae reactor, an anaerobic digester, a biodiesel plant, a coalfired
power plant, a dairy farm and an ethanol plant. Located
in Hays, Kan., this innovative center points to the central role
our nation’s agricultural sector can — and should — play in
researching, developing and deploying renewable energy.
Rural electric co-ops are uniquely positioned to help
develop renewable resources. While states and cities have
been passing renewable energy requirements, those requirements
can only be met using energy produced in rural areas,
such as wind, biomass, manure and large-scale solar power.
Recently, the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association (NRECA) committed to a roadmap for increasing
the development of domestic renewable energy options: the
25x25 Action Plan. This plan charts a course to meet an
ambitious goal: using renewable energy to meet 25 percent of
the nation’s total energy needs by the year 2025.
Like Sunflower, cooperatives across the country are already
pursuing a wide variety of renewable energy projects. Basin
Electric Power Cooperative in Bismarck, N.D., has taken
advantage of rich wind resources in that state, adding
approximately 136 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to its
portfolio over the past several years through joint projects and
power purchase agreements. North Dakota is home to 96
MW of that wind power, with plans under development to
construct a 100 MW wind farm. In Missouri, Associated
Electric Cooperative developed the state’s first wind farm.
Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs), which allow
cooperatives to finance renewable energy projects, have
opened the floodgates for renewable energy development.
Electric cooperatives submitted 85 applications to the
Treasury Department for a total of $554 million in bond
authority. According to the Internal Revenue Service, 78
cooperative projects in 22 states received bond allocations.
East Kentucky Power Cooperative was the state’s first
power plant to bring landfill gas power online and is the only
Kentucky utility generating renewable energy. The co-op
owns and operates five landfill gas plants and received a
$20 million CREB for landfill gas development.
The CREB program also opened the door for distribution
cooperatives to participate in renewable energy development.
Distribution co-ops in California, Minnesota, Illinois and
Indiana are using CREBs to develop small-scale wind projects.
Distribution co-ops in Arizona, New Mexico and Hawaii are
developing solar projects using CREBs.
Exploiting the nation’s wealth of renewable resources
requires more than money, however. Meeting the voluntary
goals of the 25x25 Action Plan requires political will and
public support. Increasingly, wind energy projects are being
held back by strong local opposition, in addition to inadequate
transmission capacity. Rural electric cooperatives, because
they are closely tied to their communities, can play a key role
in overcoming such obstacles through education and
promotion of renewable energy. Delta-Montrose Electric
Cooperative in Montrose, Colo., for example, webcasts
renewable energy conferences and sponsors expos.
Cooperatives are actively partnering with schools. In Ohio,
Logan County Electric Cooperative installed a residentialsized
10 kilowatt (kW) demonstration windmill on the
grounds of Indian Lake Schools, and Butler Rural Electric
Cooperative, in conjunction with Buckeye Power Inc. and
Miami University, erected a 230-square-foot photo-voltaic
panel that provides approximately 200 kW hours per month.
Both projects are providing real-time information and data to
members and the public at the Buckeye Power Web site.
Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Co-op in Wilcox, Ariz., will
use its CREB to build photo-voltaic shade structures at the 45
public schools and two colleges.
Today, 11 percent of the power distributed by America’s
electric cooperatives is generated from renewable resources,
more than 40 billion kilowatt hours. As co-ops look for more
cost-effective renewable resources to provide Americans with
reliable, affordable energy, that total will continue to grow.
Developing renewable energy will strengthen America and
increase our economic security by reducing our dependence
on foreign resources. As we build for the future we will
continue to increase our investment in renewable
technologies, bringing homegrown, regionally produced
energy safely and reliably to co-op members at the lowest
possible price.
