NRECA

Electric cooperatives across the Southeast describe Hurricane Helene’s devastation as vast and unprecedented, warning that restoring some crucial infrastructure serving the not-for-profit entities’ customers will take a long and arduous process. In a call with reporters on Oct. 1—five days after the massive Category 4 storm made landfall—co-op leaders serving customers in Florida, Georgia, South […]

An array of technologies, both thermal and renewable, are being used in the design of microgrids, supporting distributed power generation across several sectors. The use of microgrids to provide reliable power for critical infrastructure is growing, and these off-grid installations also are becoming more prevalent as part of commercial and industrial (C&I) enterprises and residential […]

More than two dozen states and a handful of trade groups filed separate lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging parts of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) suite of new final environmental regulations targeting fossil-fired power plants. The challenges respond to the publication in the Federal Register on May 9 […]

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) final energy efficiency standards for distribution transformers appear to strike a compromise with industry, softening the agency’s stance on steel requirements for essential transformer components and extending compliance deadlines to five years. The DOE’s final standards issued on April 4 seek to reduce losses in three types of distribution […]

The history of electric cooperatives is one of individuals striving to improve their local communities. Perhaps the most inspiring electric cooperative formation was initiated by Peggi Timm. Timm, whose accomplishments would fill a library, helped to create one of Oregon’s largest cooperatives, called Oregon Trail Electric Cooperative (OTEC). In 1987, OTEC’s service territory was controlled […]

Colorado-based cooperative Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association will accelerate the closure of a coal-fired unit in the northwestern part of the state, and also announced a retirement date for an Arizona coal plant, as part of the utility’s latest electric resource plan (ERP). Tri-State on Dec. 1 also said it wants to acquire at least […]

Nine trade groups—including four representing the power sector—have urged the Biden administration to prioritize actions that support the domestic production of electrical steel, warning that shortages are contributing to “significant and persistent” supply chain challenges. The groups, which include the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the American Public Power Association (APPA), the National Rural Electric Cooperative […]

Three major electric power trade groups in a letter on Feb. 15 urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to reconsider proposed energy efficiency conservation standards for distribution transformers, citing “severe and ongoing supply chain challenges that have prolonged and complicated distribution transformer production and availability.” The letter was sent ahead of a public meeting scheduled […]

A nearly two-day-long boil water order that shuttered schools and businesses and affected as many as 2.2 million customers in Houston—the nation’s fourth-largest city—was caused by a power outage stemming from the failure of two city-owned transformers. The incident began on Nov. 27 at 10:30 a.m. when “a ground trip and current overload” tripped the […]

ARLINGTON, Va. – The Department of Energy today awarded a $15 million award to the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association to help electric cooperatives expand their cyber monitoring capabilities of their industrial control facilities. The award will be spread over three years, with $10 million disbursed in 2022 and the remaining $5 million in subsequent […]

Glen Allen, VA (April 29, 2021) – Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) has issued a request for proposals from solar energy project developers for up to 400 MW of solar energy and related attributes. The RFP also invites, but does not require, proposals that include battery storage as part of the solar energy project. ODEC […]

ARLINGTON, Va. (March 4, 2021) – Chris Christensen, a director of NorVal Electric Cooperative in Montana, today begins his two-year term as president of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) board of directors. Curtis Wynn, NRECA’s outgoing board president and CEO of Roanoke Electric Cooperative, passed the gavel to Christensen during NRECA’s annual meeting. […]

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is working feverishly to get a provision into the next COVID-19 stimulus package that would allow electric cooperatives to reprice loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) at current low interest rates without penalties. The change could save co-ops more than $10 billion. The RUS, which is a […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finalized a long-awaited rule revising regulations that govern qualifying small power producers and cogenerators under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). While FERC said the rule was necessary to respond to significant market changes, the action drew mixed reactions from industry.  FERC’s final rule issued on […]

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to delay the implementation of seven reliability standards that relate to cybersecurity, training, disturbance monitoring and reporting, generator relay loadability, and coordination of protection systems for performance during faults. In an April 6 filing to FERC, NERC noted the rules […]

As part of POWER magazine’s in-depth coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, its editors are curating a list of resources that may provide actionable information helpful to anyone involved in the world’s vast bulk power systems. Please write to editor@powermag.com if you know of additional resources that should be added to this page.  POWER Magazine’s Live […]

The names of bulk power system entities that violate federal critical infrastructure cybersecurity reliability standards—along with identification of standards violated and penalties assessed—may soon be routinely disclosed under changes proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the North American Reliability Corp. (NERC).  The proposed changes, which FERC and NERC outlined in an Aug. […]

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to formally replace the Obama administration’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP).  Like the CPP, the June 19–issued final ACE rule will regulate greenhouse gases (GHGs), and it will be founded firmly on the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding. However, the ACE rule focuses […]

Electric cooperatives in the U.S. have vastly accelerated solar power installments. Today, they own or purchase more than nine times as much solar photovoltaic (PV) power as they did in 2013, a new report says.   The report, “A Solar Revolution in Rural America,” was prepared by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), a […]

John J. Novak The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Power Plan is arguably the most ambitious and far-reaching regulation in the agency’s history. America’s electric cooperatives

It took only minutes for opponents to the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants to head for the courts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) plan became official, published in the Federal Register on Friday morning. The race to the courthouse was on. The first electric utility in […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) first-ever national standards for the disposal of coal ash are ridden with complications, warned witnesses at a Senate oversight hearing.  The June 17 hearing before the full Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW) featured five witnesses representing a coalition of state environmental agency leaders, the American Coal Ash Association, […]

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) proposed carbon rules for existing power plants amassed more than 1.6 million remarks before the public comment period ended on Monday. Here’s a snapshot of what states, regulators, industry groups, and environmental alliances told the agency about its Clean Power Plan.  States Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, […]