San Miguel Electric Cooperative Inc. (SMECI), a not-for-profit generation and transmission rural electric cooperative located in Atascosa County, Texas, was awarded more than $1.4 billion through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program. With the money, SMECI, which operates a mine-mouth lignite-fired power plant, said it will convert its lignite operations to a 400-MW solar and 200-MW battery storage facility “to provide clean, reliable, and affordable renewable energy to 47 rural South Texas counties.”“The USDA funding represents a new era for the San Miguel Electric Cooperative, which has long been the backbone of electric generation for generations of South Texans,” Craig Courter, general manager/CEO of the cooperative, said in a statement. “New ERA program funding will allow us to virtually eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions, while continuing to provide affordable and reliable power to rural South Texans.”SMECI, which began commercial operation in 1982, currently produces 391 MW of electricity through a wholesale power contract with South Texas Electric Cooperative (STEC), which, in turn, supplies power to its distribution cooperative members, who provide retail service to more than 340,000 rural Texas customers. As SMECI converts from lignite to solar, it will enter into a new wholesale power contract with STEC to supply the output of the proposed solar and battery storage facility, which is expected to be operational by 2027.The USDA said the New ERA program was made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936. New ERA program funding is available to member-owned rural electric cooperatives, which have been the backbone of America’s rural power delivery for nearly a century, it said.“USDA is committed to enhancing the quality of life and improving air and water in our rural communities,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement on Dec. 19, announcing awards for more than $4.37 billion in clean energy investments. “The Inflation Reduction Act’s historic investments enable USDA to partner with rural electric cooperatives to strengthen America’s energy security and lower electricity bills for hardworking families, farmers, and small business owners.”SMECI announced in early September that it had been named a finalist for New ERA funding. At the time, it noted the wholesale power contract with STEC ran through 2037 and could be continued further, depending on lignite coal availability. However, it said the supply of lignite-fired electricity would be discontinued earlier if San Miguel was awarded the New ERA funding.In a statement issued on Dec. 23, SMECI said it will use part of the New ERA funding to refinance debt from its stranded lignite infrastructure. It said the conversion will not affect
Ven. Gen 10th, 2025
