WASHINGTON,
May 26, 2016 - Eighty years ago, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act (REA) which
charged USDA to provide electric power to rural America. Agriculture Secretary
Tom Vilsack used the anniversary to announce even more investments in the
program.
"Today's
investments continue a part of USDA's mission that has brought reliable, safe
and affordable electric power to America's farms, ranches and rural
communities, improved the quality of life for rural residents, increased farm
productivity and made America the breadbasket to the world,” Vilsack noted.
USDA
is providing $202 million in loans for six projects in Arizona, Georgia,
Kansas, Kentucky and North Carolina. The funding is administered through the Electric
Program of USDA's Rural
Utilities Service, the successor to the REA. Here’s a list of the
projects:
- East Kentucky Power Cooperative Inc. was selected to
receive a $131.8 million USDA loan to acquire the Bluegrass Generating
Facility, a natural gas-fired power plant.
- North Carolina's O2 EMC Portfolio 1 is receiving a $4.5
million loan to construct a 3 megawatt solar farm.
- In Arizona, the Tohono O'Odham Utility Authority will
improve 80 miles of line with a loan of nearly $8 million. The utility
will use $775,000 of the loan to invest in smart grid technologies. Smart
grid increases the reliability of electric power by helping utilities
better manage power distribution and improve operational efficiencies. It
includes metering, substation automation, computer applications, two-way
communications, geospatial information systems and other improvements.
- Georgia's Slash Pine Electric Membership Corporation
will use a $9 million loan to improve 248 miles of line and make other
system improvements, including $1 million for smart grid.
- The Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. is
receiving a $43.1 million loan to make system improvements to the water
reactor at the Wolf Creek Generating Station and a $5.2 million loan to
fund improvements to the facility's below-ground water piping.
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