The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is a utility member association composed of 905 electric distribution and generation/transmission utilities serving more than 42 million rural Americans through a network of 2.5 million miles of distribution line serving more than 18 million member-consumers. The Association established two institutions to share the U.S. electric cooperative experience with partners and programs in developing countries. NRECA International Ltd. (hereafter NRECA) is a not-for-profit rural development services organization established in 1962 that implements projects on behalf of a wide range of clients, including electric cooperative partners, multilateral development banks, the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of Agriculture, the US Trade and Development Agency, host governments, and private investors. The NRECA International Foundation (hereafter Foundation) is a non-profit charitable organization established in 1985 to connect US electric cooperatives and their staff to electrification programs worldwide, to achieve the Foundation's mission of "Electrifying the World One Village at a Time".
Programs designed and implemented by NRECA have focused on improving and expanding rural electric infrastructure, establishing self-sustaining and well-managed rural electric utilities, and providing technical assistance and consulting services to electric utilities in developing economies. NRECA’s principal goal is to expand access to promote rural economic development through expansion of access to commercial electric service in rural areas of the countries it serves. From the early years of program inception, NRECA has provided guidance and project development support to rural utilities in the use of renewable energy resources for rural power supply. NRECA has designed, developed, and supervised construction of micro and small hydroelectric power stations; biomass gasification and combustion systems; wind-hybrid power systems; and solar photovoltaic energy systems for rural power supply. NRECA has remained technology neutral, selecting the least cost and most appropriate technology solution to serve communities that participate in rural electrification programs and projects.
NRECA is currently providing expertise in smart grid planning and implementation; electrification investment planning; renewable energy off-grid utility design and start-up; distribution system diagnostics and improvements; utility benchmarking; legal, regulatory, financial and economic analysis; and engineering design and analysis, in Bolivia, Guatemala, Haiti, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Philippines and Uganda, and recently completed projects in Bangladesh, Ghana, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras and Pakistan, and maintains its headquarters in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region.
