The National Rural Utilities Co-operative Finance Corporation (NRUCFC) bonds will finance a variety of new initiatives to develop alternative energy resources, including solar power, wind power and landfill gas.
Electric cooperatives in the US states of Arizona, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota and Vermont will use clean renewable energy bonds (CREBs) to launch 27 renewable energy projects, ranging from the installation of solar energy equipment to provide power to schools, to the construction of wind power facilities.
The projects range in size from approximately 20kW to 4MW of capacity, with bond allocations ranging from roughly $45,000 to $4 million per project.
Electric cooperatives are non-profit, member-owned utilities. As part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the CREB program provides electric cooperatives and other non-profit utilities incentives to invest in renewable generation resources.
Comparable to production tax credits available to investor-owned utilities, CREBs provide low-cost capital for renewable energy facilities because the government provides tax credits to the purchasers of the bonds.