Clean Energy EXPO 2025: Rural Energy

The 28th Congressional Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency EXPO and Policy Forum was held on Thursday, July 24, 2025. The event was hosted by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI), with the House and Senate Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (REEE) Caucuses serving as honorary co-hosts. It featured eight panels, including Rural Energy.

Doug O'Brien, President and CEO, National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA)

Jaqueline Cochran, Associate Lab Director, Strategic Energy Analysis & Decision Sciences, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Highlights

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Rural areas strategically drive federal energy policies, as they host a disproportionate share of U.S. energy infrastructure. Rural electric cooperatives (co-ops), however, experience challenges like extreme weather, limited local capital, aging infrastructure, and a higher infrastructure to customer ratio than their urban counterparts—with fewer specialized staff.
Rural energy successes tend to share commonalities: flexible funding mechanisms, targeted technical assistance, capacity-building for local decision-makers, and respect for rural governance structures.
The Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) is an on-bill financing program that works with rural electric cooperatives to help rural households finance much-needed energy-saving upgrades. RESP has been operating for over 10 years and has been implemented in over 25 states.

The vast majority of rural communities are served by rural electric cooperatives, or co-ops, which are owned and operated by the people they serve. Rural electric cooperatives serve approximately 40 million people across the country.
About 90% of designated “persistent poverty” areas are rural. These households spend about 40% of their income on energy costs.
The Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP) is an on-bill financing program that works with rural electric cooperatives to help rural households finance much-needed energy-saving upgrades. RESP has been operating for over 10 years and has been implemented in over 25 states.
Families participating in RESP save up to $1,000 per year on their utility bills.

The smart electrification of rural America should build on previous work by the federal government and co-ops, improving the quality of life in rural areas and strengthening the country as a whole.
Energy costs are a large portion of rural budgets so saving money is paramount when implementing electrification.
Electric water heaters present an opportunity to implement demand-side grid resilience measures by running the heater when electric prices are at their lowest (i.e., the periods when there is the least strain on the grid).
To support the clean energy transition in rural areas, federal assistance can be particularly helpful with the high upfront costs associated with installing new energy equipment.

Michael J. Lemon, Founder, BTR Energy

Biogas is a natural gas generated from organic waste that can be produced in farms, wastewater treatment plants, and landfills. It has bipartisan support in Congress and from family farmers and rural communities.
A single biogas facility can provide a farm with heat and renewable baseload electricity, generate additional revenue, protect nearby water resources, reduce ammonia and hydrogen sulfide emissions, minimize harmful pathogens, divert organic waste streams from landfills, support crop production, and create jobs.
Currently, 200 dairy and livestock farms across the United States generate electricity from biogas. The USDA estimates that with the right policy incentives, biogas digestors can be built on an additional 9,000 farms as well as thousands of wastewater treatment plants and waste processing facilities.
Continued biogas participation in the Renewable Fuel Standard program would provide new revenue streams, sustain existing rural jobs, and create thousands of new jobs.

Jaquelin Cochran, Associate Lab Director, Strategic Energy Analysis & Decision Sciences, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)

Rural areas strategically drive federal energy policies, as they host a disproportionate share of U.S. energy infrastructure—from the resources that power our cities to the transmission corridors that deliver that power.
Despite their central role in the energy economy, rural electric co-ops experience extreme weather, have limited local capital, have aging infrastructure, and typically maintain more infrastructure per customer than their urban counterparts—with fewer specialized staff.
A success story of energy development translating into local economic development, the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project, built in partnership with the state of Nevada, the city of Las Vegas, and industry, created jobs and directly funded senior care and child education in the Moapa River Indian Reservation.
Rural energy successes tend to share commonalities: flexible funding mechanisms, targeted technical assistance, capacity-building for local decision-makers, and respect for rural governance structures.

Compiled by Erin Parker and edited for clarity and length. This is not a transcript.