The nation’s sprawling network of rural electric cooperatives has become a hotbed of clean tech innovation, and the latest example is a doozy. The Minnesota-based co-op Great River Energy is teaming with the somewhat mysterious Bill Gates-backed energy storage startup Form Energy to build a new battery that can discharge for 150 hours. That beats conventional batteries by a mile and it practically guarantees that wind and solar will dominate the US energy landscape in a few short years. The big question is, how does it work?
Energy Storage For Rural Electric Cooperatives…Socialism!
For those of you new to the topic, rural electric cooperatives were established as not-for-profit entities under federal law in 1933 to electrify rural America, at a time when 90% of rural homes still had no electricity. The unique status of rural co-ops enables them to experiment with new technology to a degree that would be impractical for conventional utilities.
So, now they are on a mission to bring wind power, solar power, and advanced energy storage to their service territories.
Great River Energy is a case in point. The co-op is already engaged in several clean tech initiatives including a “virtual thermal battery” that networks thousands of individual hot water heaters. The new Form Energy battery rockets their efforts into a whole new level.
A hint as to how the new energy storage system will impact Great River’s portfolio popped up just yesterday, when the co-op announced that it is slamming the door on its massive coal power plant in North Dakota in about two years and replacing it with new wind farms.
As for influence, Great River is the umbrella for 28 other co-ops that serve 700,000 households, farms, and businesses. That’s peanuts compared to the combined might of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. The organization counts about 900 electric co-ops on its membership rolls, serving 42 million people in a combined service territory that accounts for more than half of the nation’s land mass.
Not only that, but NRECA is a founding member of this thing called NRTC, which is bringing the renewable energy revolution to the rural telecommunications field.
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