PRECorp awarded $23.5 million to develop solar facility, battery storage system
GILLETTE (WNE) — The Powder River Energy Corporation, or PRECorp, was recently awarded $23.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to support the installation of a renewable energy and storage system through the USDA’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy, or PACE, program.
Powder River Energy Corporation, headquartered in Sundance, will use the $23.5 million PACE award to develop a solar facility and battery energy storage system totaling nearly 1.2 megawatts of renewable energy and 5 MW of energy storage in rural Wyoming, according to a press release.
More than 2,100 single-axis tilt solar array panels will be installed on property owned by PRECorp.
The panels will rotate and follow the sun’s path to absorb sunlight. The energy storage system will allow for the storage and release of electrical energy to reduce wholesale power supply costs for its members in Campbell, Crook, Johnson, Sheridan and Weston counties, as well as improve reliability for its members near the project site.
It’s estimated that the project will generate enough energy annually to serve 1,800 households, according to the press release. PRECorp’s PACE application was selected for 20% loan forgiveness.
The PACE program is made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, which is the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936.
“In just two years, the New ERA and PACE programs have created dozens of new partnerships with rural electric cooperatives and communities that will reduce pollution, create jobs and make clean energy more affordable for millions of rural Americans,” USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the press release. “These investments we’re making today will continue to support the health, prosperity and well-being of rural Americans for generations to come.”
This story was published on January 21, 2025.