MREA secures funding through State Competitiveness Fund

The Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA) recently signed a contract securing $290,000 of funding through the Minnesota State Competitiveness Fund. The Minnesota legislature made the funding available last year to help utilities apply for federal funding through sources like the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“We’d like to thank the Minnesota Department of Commerce for awarding this grant to us,” MREA CEO Darrick Moe said. “The funds will allow us to apply for federal money to improve reliability on Minnesota’s electric grid.”

As an example of ways the money can be used, Meeker Electric Cooperative, headquartered in Litchfield, is preparing to submit a full application for the federal Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnership Program (GRIP) after receiving an encouragement letter from the Department of Energy (DOE). Meeker is the lead applicant in a joint GRIP Topic 1 application, along with MREA and the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association and a consortium of more than 60 consumer-owned utilities. The joint Topic 1 application, seeking more than $232 million from the DOE, proposes to increase reliability and resilience of cooperative and municipal electric systems in the Midwest. By innovatively pairing traditional tools and a new technology solution these improvements will benefit end consumers and specifically target areas with severe winds and tornadic activity.

“With cooperatives and municipals working together, we believe we have a strong application that will bring funds to Minnesota to improve reliability in consumer-owned territory throughout the state while maintaining affordability,” Moe said.