MiEnergy Cooperative secures $14.1 million grant for fiber project

One of 24 projects awarded grants by USDA’s ReConnect Program

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development State Director for Minnesota Colleen Landkamer recently announced MiEnergy Cooperative as a recipient of a $14.1 million dollar grant from the ReConnect Program.

The $14.1 million grant matched with a $14.1 million loan will help the cooperative bring fiber to 2,255 people, 55 businesses and 235 farms in Fillmore and Winona counties. The area includes unserved areas surrounding the city of Spring Valley in Fillmore County. In Winona County, the area includes unserved locations east of the city of St. Charles, surrounding the city of Utica, east and south of the city of Lewiston and locations south of Interstate 90. Maps of the locations for this award can be seen by visiting www.rus-services.rd.usda.gov/s/public-searchable-database and selecting the program ReConnect and searching for MiEnergy.

The ReConnect Program is designed to fund the most difficult high-speed internet projects in the nation, which are the most rural, remote and unserved communities.

This is the second broadband award MiEnergy has received in recent months. In October, the co-op was awarded a $3.16 million grant from Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development Border-to-Border Broadband Development Grant Program.

Both grants will help the co-op improve the reliability and efficiency of its electric distribution network, while also providing much needed broadband service to rural members.

“This grant helps bring high-speed broadband service to residents and businesses who have no or very limited options when it comes to this speed of service,” said Jill Huffman, MiEnergy’s broadband COO. “A secondary, but equally important part for MiEnergy members is how the award will bring fiber to the cooperative’s substations. This fiber technology investment is necessary for ensuring reliable power for the future.”

Residents can expect speeds of 1 Gbps download and 1 Gbps upload on a fiber network, exceeding the state’s speed goals.

MiEnergy is no stranger to providing solutions to meet the needs of its members when it comes to broadband. It formed MiBroadband with Mabel Cooperative and Spring Grove Communications in 2018 to help bring broadband to rural areas.

“Grants like these through ReConnect are what we need to provide this future-proof technology in low-density areas where it otherwise is not economically feasible,” said Brian Krambeer, MiEnergy president/CEO.

He noted how MiEnergy serves less than four members per mile of power line.

“We’ve known the challenges of bringing utilities to rural areas. Fiber is no different,” he said.

MiEnergy was one of 24 projects receiving dollars in Round 5 of the ReConnect Program, which awarded a total of $313 million in grants and loans. Others in Minnesota receiving awards are Consolidated Telephone Company for projects in Crow Wing and Morrison counties and Red River Rural Telephone Association for Clay County.