San Miguel Electrical Cooperative Inc. (SMECI), a not-for-profit technology and transmission rural electrical cooperative situated in Atascosa County, Texas, was awarded greater than $1.4 billion by way of the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. With the cash, SMECI, which operates a mine-mouth lignite-fired energy plant, mentioned it’ll convert its lignite operations to a 400-MW photo voltaic and 200-MW battery storage facility “to offer clear, dependable, and inexpensive renewable vitality to 47 rural South Texas counties.”
“The USDA funding represents a brand new period for the San Miguel Electrical Cooperative, which has lengthy been the spine of electrical technology for generations of South Texans,” Craig Courter, normal supervisor/CEO of the cooperative, mentioned in an announcement. “New ERA program funding will enable us to just about remove our greenhouse fuel emissions, whereas persevering with to offer inexpensive and dependable energy to rural South Texans.”
SMECI, which started industrial operation in 1982, presently produces 391 MW of electrical energy by way of a wholesale energy contract with South Texas Electrical Cooperative (STEC), which, in flip, provides energy to its distribution cooperative members, who present retail service to greater than 340,000 rural Texas prospects. As SMECI converts from lignite to photo voltaic, it’ll enter into a brand new wholesale energy contract with STEC to produce the output of the proposed photo voltaic and battery storage facility, which is predicted to be operational by 2027.
The USDA mentioned the New ERA program was made potential by President Biden’s Inflation Discount Act, the most important funding in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into legislation in 1936. New ERA program funding is accessible to member-owned rural electrical cooperatives, which have been the spine of America’s rural energy supply for almost a century, it mentioned.
“USDA is dedicated to enhancing the standard of life and enhancing air and water in our rural communities,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack mentioned in an announcement on Dec. 19, asserting awards for greater than $4.37 billion in clear vitality investments. “The Inflation Discount Act’s historic investments allow USDA to companion with rural electrical cooperatives to strengthen America’s vitality safety and decrease electrical energy payments for hardworking households, farmers, and small enterprise homeowners.”
SMECI introduced in early September that it had been named a finalist for New ERA funding. On the time, it famous the wholesale energy contract with STEC ran by way of 2037 and might be continued additional, relying on lignite coal availability. Nonetheless, it mentioned the availability of lignite-fired electrical energy can be discontinued earlier if San Miguel was awarded the New ERA funding.
In an announcement issued on Dec. 23, SMECI mentioned it’ll use a part of the New ERA funding to refinance debt from its stranded lignite infrastructure. It mentioned the conversion won’t have an effect on SMECI’s ongoing mine reclamation program, which is secured by bonds that won’t be launched till regulators have decided that the mine reclamation is full.
“Reclamation is an important a part of a mining operation’s tradition and—for SMECI—a ardour. The cooperative works carefully with its landowners to revive mined land to their most popular specs. This will embody pastureland, which makes use of vegetation, resembling grasses, to offer feed advantages to ranch animals and construct soil stability,” SMECI mentioned.
“San Miguel will proceed to be an integral a part of the vitality wants of the South Texas communities now we have served since 1982,” mentioned Courter. “With this conversion, we sit up for many extra years of offering vitality at an inexpensive price in a state that continues to develop at an unprecedented tempo.”
Past solar energy, SMECI has taken steps to faucet into one other type of renewable vitality as properly. In August, the cooperative entered right into a first-of-its-kind geothermal vitality partnership with Sage Geosystems Inc., which is able to launch its EarthStore facility at San Miguel. “This would be the first undertaking in Texas to make the most of the earth’s pure capability for vitality storage to supply clear, sustainable, and dispatchable electrical energy on demand. Sage’s know-how provides a dependable and resilient energy supply—unbiased of climate circumstances and never reliant on wind or sunshine,” SMECI mentioned.
The USDA mentioned it expects to make extra New ERA award bulletins within the coming weeks. Together with the December investments, the USDA has awarded funding to fifteen cooperatives as a part of the New ERA program, totaling virtually $9 billion in New ERA-financed grants and loans.
—Aaron Larson is POWER’s govt editor (@POWERmagazine).
