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PCCA Journal|2 nd Quarter 2011 7

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griculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in April announced that 10 rural electric cooperatives and utilities have been awarded funding to build or expand transmission and distribution lines and provide smart grid technology to benefit nearly 20,000 rural consumers. A similar announcement in March included eight states and some 24,000 consumers. “This funding will lay the founda-tion for sustainable economic growth by out-building and out-innovating our competition to build a more robust rural economy,” Vilsack said. “The invest-ments rural electric cooperatives make in infrastructure and smart grid technology highlight the importance of innovation in ensuring a constant and affordable supply of electricity.”

The April announcement included loans totaling $376 million, including nearly $14 million in smart grid tech-nology. The funds are being awarded through USDA Rural Development’s Rural Utilities Service to assist electric utilities with upgrades, expansion, maintenance, and replacement of rural America’s electric infrastructure. Smart grid technology, such as advanced metering, can provide data to consum-ers and utilities to better manage power use and costs. USDA Rural Development also helps fund energy conservation and renewable energy projects.

The following is a list of rural utilities that were awarded funding in April, fol-lowed by a list of recipients announced in March.

Arkansas, Missouri

Carroll Electric Cooperative Corporation - $109,406,000. Funds will be used to con-nect 8,920 new consumers, build 268 miles of new distribution line and 22 miles of transmission line, and make other system improvements.

Arizona, NewMexico

Navopache Electric Cooperative, Inc. - $49,329,000. Funds will be used to connect 2,640 new consumers, build 93 miles of new distribution line, make improvements to 36 miles of distribution line, and make other system improvements, including $5.8 million in smart grid technologies.

Colorado

Poudre Valley Rural Electric Association - $43,246,000. Funds will be used to connect 2,069 new consumers, build 54 miles of new distribution line, make improvements to 186 miles of distribution line, and make other system improvements, including $6.7 million in smart grid technologies.

Georgia, Alabama, Florida

Georgia Transmission Corporation - $75,327,000. Funds will be used for trans-mission system projects to build 21 miles of new transmission line and three new substations.

Kansas

Southern Pioneer Electric Company - $30,000,000. Funds will be used to connect 480 new consumers, build 18 miles of new distribution line and 8 miles of transmis-sion line, and make other system improve-ments, including $825,000 in smart grid technologies.

Maryland

Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative - $37,000,000. Funds will be used to serve 3,691 consumers, build 155 miles of new distribution line, make improvements to 71 miles of existing distribution line, and make other system improvements.

Minnesota

Beltrami Electric Company - $9,057,000. Funds will be used to connect 602 new consumers, build 46 miles of new distribu-tion line, make improvements to 56 miles of distribution line, and make other system improvements, including $185,500 in smart grid technologies.

Missouri

Ozark Electric Cooperative - $10,000,000. Funds will be used to connect 605 new consumers, build 52 miles of new distribu-tion line, and make other system improve-ments.

Missouri, Iowa

Grundy Electric Cooperative - $2,000,000. Funds will be used to connect 79 new con-sumers, build 4 miles of new distribution line, and make other system improvements.

South Dakota

Dakota Energy Cooperative, Inc. - $10,695,000. Funds will be used to connect 253 new consumers, build 51 miles of new distribution line, make improvements to 255 miles of distribution line, and make other system improvements, including $175,904 in smart grid technologies.

March Announcement

The March announcement included $442 million in funding. The following is a com-plete list of rural utilities that have been selected to receive loan guarantee funding.

RDUP News continued on page 8

USDA Announces

Rural Electric Funding to Benefit Thousands of Residents

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