Electric cooperatives in three states are among the nation’s top utilities in economic development, according to a leading publication for corporate real estate professionals.
Site Selection magazine’s 2024 Top Utilities in Economic Development includes PowerSouth, a generation and transmission cooperative in Andalusia, Alabama; the 16 co-ops that are part of Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives; and the 19 co-ops making up the South Carolina Power Team.
The annual list compiles data from questionnaires sent to electric utilities with “active economic development departments,” according to the magazine. Results are based on corporate end-user project activity and affiliated job creation in 12 regions from the previous year.
The recognition underscores co-ops’ growing success in attracting large-scale sites to benefit rural communities thanks to decades-long efforts of supporting business expansions and enhancing community development, said experts at the three groups of co-ops.
“When I started working with co-ops about 10 years ago, we were nowhere on anybody’s radar,” said Brad Thomas, economic development manager at Kentucky’s Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. “And after a lot of hard work by our team, border to state border, we’re breaking through and making things happen. We’re getting recognition as one of the Top 20 utilities in North America.”
The award is Kentucky co-ops’ third consecutive win and its fourth overall. Since 2015, they have supported about 380 projects—154 of them new company locations—for a total of more than $13 billion in investment, 20,000-plus jobs and an extra 44% in industrial electric loads.
In the two-state area served by PowerSouth, several incentives have been instrumental in winning bids, including loans to help companies cover higher construction costs and the Strategic Sites Identification Program, which has identified nearly 600 new sites and more than 185,000 acres for potential development, said Taylor Williams, vice president of external affairs at the G&T. This is PowerSouth’s first time on the list.
For nearly 25 years, “we’ve seen the ebbs and flows of economic development, but we do think right now that rural areas are getting a lot of interest,” he said. “We’ve had some good successes in the last five years that we’re very proud of.”
This is the eighth year that the South Carolina Power Team has made the Site Selection list. Since 2014, through its Site Readiness Fund, co-ops have invested nearly $70 million and leveraged more than $224 million in matching dollars to develop industrial properties. Three project announcements on SRF sites accounted for more than 80% of last year’s $2.3 billion in capital investment.
“We have been fortunate and blessed by the commitment of our electric cooperatives,” said James Chavez, the team’s president and CEO. “They continue to take ownership of a very aggressive strategy for growth and financially support our efforts to ensure we remain competitive and essential to the communities we serve in South Carolina.”
Victoria A. Rocha is a staff writer for NRECA.