Jackson Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), a 246,000-member distribution cooperative, teamed up with Green Power EMC, a renewable energy supplier that supports the state’s 38 EMCs, to build a 1-MW, onsite solar installation to support the sustainability goals of Southeast Toyota Distributors (SET), the world’s largest independent distributor of Toyotas. Located in northeast Georgia, the solar installation was part of a newly completed, more than $100 million automotive processing facility for SET. The 1-MW solar installation, which Green Power EMC owns, features 3,600 state-of-the-art tracking solar modules coupled with 500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of battery storage. 

Virginia-based generation and transmission (G&T) cooperative Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC), which owns and operates power plants in Virginia and Maryland and serves distribution cooperatives in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, has established an ambitious goal to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. The 2050 goal further emphasizes the cooperative’s dedication to using renewable energy sources and builds on ODEC’s mission of providing affordable, reliable and sustainable power to its 11 member distribution cooperatives. 

Wabash Valley Power, a G&T cooperative serving an alliance of 23 member distribution cooperatives in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, all of which are CFC members, is the sole buyer of the energy produced from two 99-MW solar arrays, the Prairie State and Dressor Plains solar projects in Illinois. CFC and its affiliate, National Cooperative Services Corporation (NCSC), helped Wabash Valley Power by working with the Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI) to facilitate the financing. Wabash Valley Power has 30-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) to receive the energy from both projects. Each 99-MW solar array is expected to generate enough energy to power approximately 21,000 homes year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.