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Yampa Valley Electric Association selected for $50 million in federal renewable energy funding

Yampa Valley Electric Association CEO Scott Blecke, foreground, is all smiles at the Empowering Rural America funding presentation at Tri-State Generation and Transmission office in Westminster on Friday morning, Oct. 25, 2024.
YVEA/Courtesy photo

Yampa Valley Electric Association co-operative that supplies power across 7,000 square miles including in Routt and Moffat counties received ceremonial notice Friday of an approximately $50 million renewable energy grant selection from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The USDA is awarding six rural electric cooperatives, including YVEA, nearly $1 billion in funding through the New ERA, or Empowering Rural America. In addition, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will receive nearly $2.5 billion in financing through the New ERA funding, which is part of the Inflation Reduction Act. The funding is designated to invest in renewable energy to reduce pollution in rural parts of the U.S.

“This New ERA investment will help YVEA reduce the costs associated with procuring a power purchase agreement for an upcoming renewable energy project,” noted YVEA Public Relations Specialist Carly Davidson. “The project will integrate up to 150 megawatts of solar energy and 75 megawatts of battery energy storage.”



“We are excited to be selected in the process and to realize what this roughly $50 million could mean in further stabilizing energy costs for our members and helping our rural communities thrive for generations to come,” Scott Blecke, president and CEO of YVEA said Friday.

Davidson explained that the nonprofit, member-owned co-op will not be building its own solar array or battery storage directly through the funding.



“We are partnering with an entity that will build, own and operate the project, and we will be buying power from them,” Davidson explained Friday. “This money will be used to purchase power that is produced by the array and battery storage in order to help stabilize energy costs.”

The power purchase agreement process for a new, large renewable energy installation would be similar to the model used for the 4-megawatt Yampa Valley Regional Solar Garden. The 20-acre solar array was completed in fall 2023 by Massachusetts-based Ameresco and is located just east of the YVEA offices in Craig.

According to Ameresco, the Craig array is designed to produce approximately 9.64 million kilowatt hours annually, equivalent to the average annual electricity consumed by more than 1,329 homes.

Craig, regional and Ameresco representatives hosted a ceremonial ribbon cutting at the Yampa Valley Regional Solar Garden on Sept. 8, 2023 in Craig.
Ameresco/Courtesy photo

Davidson said the co-op does not yet have public details on where the new project would be built, but the project would come online after June 1, 2028, following the start of a new wholesale power supply contract with Guzman Energy. YVEA leadership signed a 15-year power supply contract with Guzman to start in 2028, moving away from co-op’s long-standing contract with Xcel Energy.

The new contract with Guzman will allow for 18% of power to be produced through renewable energy installations directly through YVEA, as opposed to the current contract with Xcel that limits YVEA renewables to 3%.

The USDA funds for YVEA are part of overall funding to six rural electric co-operatives for clean energy financing to help lower energy costs. Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association headquartered in Fort Collins also is a recipient. The four other co-ops that serve rural communities receiving funding include Connexus Energy in Minnesota and South Dakota, Central Electric Power Cooperative in South Carolina, Nebraska Electric Generation and Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative in Texas.

According to the USDA media release, the agency will be investing nearly $1 billion in grants and loans for these six new selectees, “which will leverage investments of $6.4 billion for 1.75 gigawatts of clean energy for rural communities across the country.”

USDA estimates that recipients will be able to use funding to reduce at least 6.4 million tons of greenhouse gases annually.

The New ERA funding for YVEA will assist in creating several hundred short-term and six long-term jobs, stabilize costs for rural co-operative members and reduce carbon emissions by more than 255,000 tons per year, equivalent to providing electricity for more than 45,000 homes, according to a YVEA media release.


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