About Solar Co-ops

Several of the most isolated areas in the country were the last locations to receive electricity. When President Roosevelt created the Rural Electrification Administration, things changed. Roosevelt’s era created 900 electric cooperatives (co-ops) that power homes.

These non-profit, member-owned electricity companies cover 70% of U.S. geographic territory ensuring that all rural communities have access to economical and sustainable sources of electricity.

NRECA

Americans in cities and suburbs are powered with clean electricity as the price of solar systems has gone down. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) works with the co-ops it represents to spearhead a national initiative to make clean energy more economical, quicker, and simpler for Americans in rural areas.

Solar Utility Networks: Replicable Innovations In Solar Energy (SUNRISE), NRECA has partners with 17 co-ops, Power Secure, the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), and Federated Rural Electric Insurance Exchange to create, experiment, and deploy the “PV System Toolkit.”

This is a ready-to-use standard engineering designs, financing models, templates, tools, and plans, and its suite of materials gives best practices to reduce clean energy adoption costs and assist co-ops navigate the ways to integrate clean energy into their asset portfolios. NRECA aides the deployment of more than 23 megawatts (MW) of utility-scale PV in 15 states.

They supply rural communities with solutions to leverage the benefits of a cost-competitive and dependable clean energy generation. NRECA deployed one of its community renewable energy projects with CoServ Electric. It installed a 2 MW system on a 16-acre peanut farm in Krugerville, Texas. You can buy kilowatt-hour blocks of power from the site.

NRECA continues to work with co-ops to deploy solar projects that expand accessibility and fulfill the requirements of each co-op. Demand for NRECA’s PV System Toolkit continues to grow. NRECA engages with hundreds of co-ops and thousands of employees as they brain storm opportunites of renewable energy power as a choice for their members.

From 2015 to 2016, 3,000 representatives from 347 co-ops participated in NRECA’s PV System Toolkit webinars. Due to the program’s success, NRECA plans to reach every member cooperative and ensure they have the information about going solar. In addition, NRECA’s project work with private investors to give more counsel about issues co-ops face when financing new projects.

Since Co-ops are nonprofit entities, they can’t take advantage of tax and accelerated depreciation incentives for solar energy projects. NRECA has assisted Cooperative Finance Corporation, CoBank, and other private equity firms give fresh offerings that permit co-ops to fund projects.

Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation, and Green Power Electric Membership Corporation used these new offerings to make their solar co-op projects. NRECA’s work is vital to the deployment of clean energy since electric co-ops assist bigger areas and bring electricity to over 12% of all electricity customers.

If you want to join the solar revolution, go to HahaSmart.com and try our price checker tool. You can see how much a system will cost, and how much you can save over the next 20 years. For more information about solar, don't forget to visit our solar blog section for guides and articles.

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