7
Electric cooperatives across the country are actively expanding their fuel portfolios to include an array of renewable sources, including wind, solar, heat recovery, biomass, and hydro. (Data updated January 2017.)View Interactive Map
Member-owned electric cooperatives have nearly 240 megawatts (MW) of solar capacity online or on the drawing board across the country.
Not-for-profit electric co-ops develop solar for one reason only: to serve their members. Cooperative solar IS consumer-owned solar.View Interactive Map
As late as the mid-1930s, 9 out of 10 rural homes were without electric service. Most rural electrification is the product of locally owned rural electric cooperatives that got their start by borrowing funds from the REA to build lines and provide service on a not-for-profit basis.
This visualization shows the growth of NRECA electric cooperatives in the United States over time.View the Visualization
Electric cooperatives serve in 364 of the nation's 395 "persistent poverty counties" (92%).
More than 250 distribution cooperatives and NRECA-member public power districts serve an estimated 4.2 million people in these counties, with poverty rates ranging from 20% to over 60%.
View the Interactive Map
As consumer-owned, not-for-profit utilities accountable to their members, cooperatives have traditionally promoted energy efficiency and demand-side management (DSM) as a means to keep members’ bills low. Now, many cooperatives also see increasing efficiencies on both sides of the meter as key to addressing the challenge of growing demand and rising costs.View Interactive Map
