Original Release: Thursday, May 22nd, 2025: Today, local leaders, rural electric co-op representatives, and small business owners gathered to celebrate the recently launched “Space to Create” resilience hub in Ridgway, Colorado, a groundbreaking facility powered in part by federal energy tax credits that are now at risk following a House vote earlier this morning.

The new hub, housed in a recently completed community building offering affordable housing to the arts community in Ridgway, can support over a day of backup power, able to serve as a shelter during emergencies like extreme weather or grid disruptions. 

“You’re now sitting in a building that provides 30 deed restricted units above us… and then there’s 2,000 square feet of community space,” Ridgway Mayor, John Clark, said during the event. The building provides heat, Wifi, device charging, and other essential services — made possible in large part due to the Investment Tax Credit and the Direct Pay provision of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“For those of you familiar with the local area here, we’re prone to avalanches, prone to windstorms, and the [distribution line] traverses through rugged terrain,” said Terry Schuyler, Ridgway Town Councilmember, during the tour. He mentioned the many projects San Miguel Power Association (SMPA) is working on to provide resiliency to rural towns in their over 3,600 square miles of service area. “All of those projects are, to some extent, dependent on leveraging the Direct Pay Investment Tax Credit.” These policies are “proven job creators,” he added, that have “bipartisan support.”

During his remarks, the Councilmember read from a letter, signed by 1,541 Coloradans, defending the energy tax credits in the IRA. One of the signatories, Josh Shipley, spoke of the impact of eliminating tax credits on his company, Alternative Power Enterprises. “Last year we did about $700,000 worth of work on projects that benefitted from the ITC,” he said, “We expect to lose $200,000 of that moving forward. That’s eight individuals from this community who will lose their jobs. There’s no way a company of my size can survive that 40-60% revenue loss.”

Local officials and project partners warned that efforts like this one could become far more difficult to replicate if the Senate follows the House’s lead in voting to eliminate the IRA’s clean energy tax provisions. Though 21 House Republicans — including Representative Jeff Hurd, whose district includes the Ridgway hub — had previously signed a letter urging preservation of the tax credits, all of them ultimately vote for the budget, which would eliminate them.

“The IRA, with its tax provisions, is probably the most impactful federal policy for rural electricity since the 1936 Rural Electrification Act,” said Ted Compton, Board President of La Plata Electric Association and Founding Director of the Co-Op Innovation Network, who spoke at the event. “Co-ops are just starting to realize the value and impact they can have with these fiscal tools. It creates a real risk to continued reliability and affordability of electricity in rural communities served by these co-ops, he continued, which includes 56% of the U.S. geography.

Wiley Freeman, of the San Miguel Power Association, also detailed the role of the Investment Tax Credit in enabling microgrid projects across Colorado. The San Miguel Power Association (SMPA) is currently working on five additional community microgrids and one major 20 MW solar project — totaling nearly $90 million in local investment. However, the future of these projects are now in question if the House’s budget is made into law.

“All of these projects are going to be significant for our communities and we are trying to do our best to leverage all of the funding that’s available. To help us do the job that we’re here to do as the utility serving the San Miguel Power Association membership,” he said. “We’re going to look at every possible way to make [SMPA’s energy] as reliable, as cost effective… as safe for everyone here. That’s why the investment tax credits are important. They help us bring online this new technology that provides that resilience for our electric grid.”  

“Our rural communities are too small to attract private investment or fund these projects on our own through local government,”  said County Commissioner, Jake Niece, at the conclusion of the event. “I just want to make one more plea to Representative Hurd and to our Senators, who will now be debating this bill in the Senate, to please put the IRA Energy Tax Credits back into the budget bill… leave them as they were passed by Congress originally, make our grids stronger, reduce energy costs for all of us”.

The event was organized by United Today, Stronger Tomorrow (UTST) in collaboration with San Miguel Power Association, and the Town of Ridgway. 

About United Today, Stronger Tomorrow: UTST works in predominantly rural and remote communities across the Upper Midwest, Mountain West, and Alaska to improve the efficacy of government investments and ensure they reflect local needs.

About San Miguel Power Association: SMPA is a member-owned rural electric cooperative serving over 9,600 members in southwest Colorado with safe, reliable, and affordable electricity.