Marana-based Trico Electric Cooperative is in line for $83.5 million in federal loans for four solar and energy-storage projects it plans to build in the next five years.
Trico, which serves about 50,000 members in rural parts of Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties, was among five awardees nationwide picked to move forward with federal loan funding for rural renewable-energy projects under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program.
Trico Chief Operating Officer Eric Hawkins said the co-op still needs to finalize the loan documents and submit a report on the community benefits of the projects, and plans to file for approval of the financing with the Arizona Corporation Commission this summer.
Trico said it will start development work on the projects immediately, and the co-op expects to build the PACE projects over the next five years.
The PACE program, administered by the USDA’s Rural Utilities Service and funded for up to $1 billion under the Inflation Reduction Act, offers rural co-ops and other power providers infrastructure loans with repayment forgiveness of 20% to 60% for qualified projects in underserved rural and tribal communities.
Trico expects to receive forgiveness of 20% of its loan total, on top of a 30% federal tax credit, Hawkins said.
Besides Trico, the USDA named co-ops in Colorado, Hawaii and Nebraska and a village in Nebraska to advance funding requests totaling $139 million.
Trico’s projects include a proposed “microgrid” project to serve Arivaca, a community of about 600 residents roughly 40 miles south of Tucson, with 3 megawatts of solar and battery storage. The co-op recently won a $7 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to support that initiative.
The other Trico projects are:
A standalone 10MW battery energy storage system to be sited on the fast-growing northwest side of Trico’s service territory;
A second phase of Trico’s Avion solar and storage project in Marana with 10MW of solar and 10MW of storage;
The proposed Valencia Solar and Battery Energy Storage Facility, with 10MW of solar and 10MW of storage to be built near a substation near West Valencia Road west of Interstate 19, to serve areas including the nearby Pascua Yaqui Reservation.
Trico CEO and general manager Brian Heithoff called the PACE award “a big win” for the nonprofit co-op and its members.
“The projects Trico is planning to build will provide cost-effective, sustainable energy solutions and benefit our members for decades to come,” he said.
Construction under way in 2022 on the Chirreon facility north of Tucson. The 90-acre solar and battery storage project, by Trico Electric Cooperative, went online in the fall of 2022. Video by: Mamta Popat
