[image-caption title="A%20new%20RUS%20program%20dedicated%20to%20electric%20cooperatives%20will%20provide%20loans%20and%20grants%20for%20transmission%20upgrades%20and%20nuclear%20energy%20investments%20in%20rural%20America.%20(Photo%20By%3A%20Arkansas%20Electric%20Cooperative%20Corp.)%20" description="%20" image="%2Fnews%2FPublishingImages%2FIMG_1263%20from%20Arkansas%20Electric%20Cooperative%20Corporation%20.jpeg" /]
The Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service is making $175 million in loans and grants available exclusively for electric cooperatives to pursue nuclear power and transmission projects in rural America through the new Affordable Rural Cooperative program.
The ARC program will leverage leftover funding from RUS’s Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program, with the money to be evenly split between nuclear and transmission investments.
“This is a great opportunity for electric cooperatives to add nuclear to their energy portfolio, likely via a power purchase agreement, or to address a much-needed update to their transmission system,” NRECA Regulatory Affairs Director Luke Theriot said.
Individual grants under the ARC program can cover up to 25% of projects and cannot exceed $20 million. Loans can finance as much as 75% of total project costs.
Loans, grants or loan-grant combinations are available for co-ops to purchase, construct or improve facilities, buildings or land use for nuclear energy production or distribution, including upgrading or expanding existing nuclear plants.
ARC awards can also support nuclear energy power purchase agreements, output from an energy storage system fully charged with nuclear power, and any transmission, substation or grid connection investments related to nuclear energy.
For transmission, the funding can cover construction or upgrades of transmission systems, as well as storage, substation and other transmission-related investments that improve transmission efficiency.
The Sept. 15 announcement comes after RUS Administrator Karl Elmshaeuser shared at NRECA’s 2026 Legislative Conference in April that the agency was looking to direct leftover New ERA funding to nuclear and transmission projects to bolster energy reliability and affordability for rural communities.
In August, RUS also launched a new $410 million program to provide partially forgivable loans for rural renewable energy programs.
RUS will award ARC funding through a competitive process. Letters of interest must be submitted between Oct. 19 and Nov. 20. RUS will then ask co-ops with high-scoring letters to submit full applications for ARC funding.
The agency will host three upcoming webinars on the ARC program that co-ops can join:
