Co-op gets federal loan for rural power in Alabama and Mississippi

The Department of Agriculture this weekannounced that 64 projects proposed by power cooperatives and utility companies across the country to improve rural power systems were approved for federal loans.

The loans come from the department's Office of Rural Development Electric Grid Infrastructure Loan and Loan Guarantee Program, which aims to help finance new and improved electric distribution, transmission, and generation facilities in rural areas, as well as demand-side management, energy conservation programs, and on-grid and off-grid renewable energy systems.

"These critical investments will benefit rural people and businesses in many ways for decades to come," Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said in a statement. "This funding will help rural cooperatives and utilities invest in changes that make our energy more efficient, more reliable, and more affordable."

The Singing River Electric Power Association, a cooperative serving 77,614 customers across Alabama and Mississippi, will use its $215 million allotment, one of the largest single endowments granted, to lay 770 miles of new transmission lines and associated infrastructure across rural townshipsin Mobile and Jefferson counties in Alabama, among others.

The Electric Grid Infrastructure Loan program provides insured loans and loan guarantees to utility provers and cooperatives for the development of power distribution and transmission facilities, green energy improvements, and broadband networks in rural areas.

Projects were approved across 24 states, but the largest slice of the $2.7 billion went to the Southeast, where 23 separate projects in seven states were allocated $1.2 billion in loans. The two states approved for the most were Georgia with $312 million and Florida, with $368 million.

The program also contains funding for expanding "smart grid" technology that can "be a catalyst for broadband and other telecommunications services in unserved and underserved rural areas in addition to improving grid security and reliability," according to the release.

It is the second announcement of federal support addressing rural infrastructure needs in Alabama recently.

On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Energy announced the state would receive $192 million via the American Rescue Plan's $10 billion Capital Projects Fund to widen access to broadband networks in rural areas.

The Biden administration has pumped millions into rural infrastructure issues by opening several funding streams state and municipal authorities and utility providers can tap to bankroll projects.