Intersection

This month’s Economic Yearbook looks at several new business projects underway across the state, many of which involve Georgia’s 41 electric membership cooperatives (EMCs). EMCs have provided electricity to Georgians for decades and currently serve more than 4 million customers.

These cooperatives not only supply power to homes and businesses, but they are also helping connect rural areas to high-speed internet. Twenty-five of Georgia’s EMCs have plans to extend broadband access to underserved areas in 103 counties. The effort, supported by federal American Rescue Plan funding, will give 332,000 Georgians access to high-speed internet.

“It was electric cooperatives that first brought light to rural farms, it is electric cooperatives that are helping to bridge the digital divide through rural broadband initiatives, and it is electric cooperatives that are helping to lead the reliably responsible energy transition,” says Georgia Transmission President and CEO Barbara Hampton.

Today, 32% of the EMCs’ generation is emission-free, and that number is expected to go up to 45% by 2025, according to Georgia EMC, the statewide association representing the EMCs as well as Oglethorpe Power Corp., Georgia Transmission and Georgia System Operations. Georgia EMC says Oglethorpe Power has reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 34% from 2005 to 2022, even as the amount of electricity generated increased by 38%.

Last fall, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced a $250 million federal grant to Georgia for building infrastructure projects to improve the reliability of the electric grid and ensure communities have access to reliable, affordable electricity where they need it. The grant projects will be constructed across the state in EMC service territories. Much of the funding will go toward bolstering grid resilience to power outages caused by extreme weather.

Georgia’s EMCs lead the U.S. among electric cooperatives for utility-scale solar deployment, according to Jeff Pratt, president of Green Power EMC, which uses power from renewable facilities, including solar, landfill gas, hydro, wood waste and wind. Pratt says some of the grant money will help accommodate renewable energy demands throughout Georgia.