Good news from the South Dakota Searchlight:
Cooperative serving South Dakota receives share of $7.3 billion for rural clean energy projects
By Searchlight StaffA rural electric cooperative serving South Dakotans is among 16 co-ops sharing in $7.3 billion from the federal government for clean energy projects that President Joe Biden announced Thursday in Wisconsin.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative will apply its funding toward 1,400 megawatts’ worth of renewable energy infrastructure in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Estimated long-term member savings are over $400 million. Plus, the project would reduce greenhouse gasses — equivalent to removing 522,000 gasoline-powered cars annually from the road.
“Renewable generation is a key portion of our balanced approach to resource development,” said Basin Electric Power Cooperative CEO and General Manager Todd Brickhouse.
His comments were included in a news release from the federal government, which did not specify the amount of funding awarded to Basin. The cooperative did not immediately respond to a message from South Dakota Searchlight.
The funds come from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included $13 billion in rural electrification programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
That represents “the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936 and the New Deal,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters in a briefing Wednesday ahead of the announcement.
A rural electric cooperative serving South Dakotans is among 16 co-ops sharing in $7.3 billion from the federal government for clean energy projects that President Joe Biden announced Thursday in Wisconsin.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative will apply its funding toward 1,400 megawatts’ worth of renewable energy infrastructure in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Estimated long-term member savings are over $400 million. Plus, the project would reduce greenhouse gasses — equivalent to removing 522,000 gasoline-powered cars annually from the road.
“Renewable generation is a key portion of our balanced approach to resource development,” said Basin Electric Power Cooperative CEO and General Manager Todd Brickhouse.
His comments were included in a news release from the federal government, which did not specify the amount of funding awarded to Basin. The cooperative did not immediately respond to a message from South Dakota Searchlight.
The funds come from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which included $13 billion in rural electrification programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
That represents “the largest investment in rural electrification since 1936 and the New Deal,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters in a briefing Wednesday ahead of the announcement.
A version of this story was originally published by Wisconsin Examiner, which is part of States Newsroom.
This South Dakota Searchlight article is republished online under under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
Photo: A wind turbine stands in a cornfield in southern South Dakota on Aug. 14, 2024. (Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight)
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