President Paula Brahan presided over today’s meeting. Freddy Walter gave today’s invocation and Mark Killingsworth led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thanks to Mark Killingsworth and Steven Utroska who served as our greeters today.
Mike Ratliff then introduced our visitor. Mark Killingsworth has his wife, Rheba, as his guest today.
Shane Germany reminded members to sign up for the Meals on Wheels delivery project. All of July is open and in need of volunteers.
Erin Granberry then introduced today’s guest speaker, Sara Peterson. Sara, a Rotarian, is the current Corporate Communications Manager for Cooperative Energy. She has as her guest today their newest Communications employee, Tori Gieger.
L-R: Club President, Paula Brahan; our speaker, Sara Peterson, and Program Chair, Erin Granberry.
Sara noted that Cooperative Energy is a generation and transmission cooperative that is owned and governed by their 11 member-owned electric cooperatives. Their mission is to provide safe, reliable power to their members. They are currently providing electricity for 427,000 homes across Mississippi. Their members serve Mississippians from the Tennessee boarder, along the Delta and to Coastal Mississippi. She noted that their mission does not necessarily involve making a profit, rather than providing electricity at a reasonable cost to their members.
Cooperative Energy operates six traditional generating plants across the state. Those plants are operating with natural gas, coal and nuclear energy. The Cooperative owns a 10% interest in the Grand Gulf Nuclear plant.
In 2016 they began development of a solar generation operation. In 2018 the 540 acre solar farm located in the Sumrall area went on-line. The site consists of 208,000 photovoltaic cell panels and is the most efficient solar generating system in Mississippi. The solar farm can generate enough clean electricity to serve 10,000 homes each year.
New technology allows the panels to follow the sun throughout the day, making each panel more efficient. The panels can also position themselves to prevent damage from high winds and hail.
In addition to the Sumrall solar farm, Cooperative Energy also has five smaller solar generating sites located at their member offices. These five sites are generating 100 KW of solar energy each year.
To learn more about Cooperative Energy you can contact Sara by calling 601-268-2083 or visit their website at www.cooperativeenergy.com.
With no other business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned by Paula with our motto, “Service Above Self.”