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Great Falls Montana Trade Area

Energy Market Assessment Identifies Opportunities

Earlier this week our energy industry consultants, RMI, traveled to Great Falls to present the findings of their market opportunities and barriers to help us attract more investment in energy and energy-related industries in the Great Falls Montana trade area.

Opportunities abound to attract investment in wind, solar, hydrogen, and eFuels, and to significantly increase the energy efficiency of industrial operations, commercial facilities and homes. By 2035, the Great Falls trade area has the potential to attract $11.5 billion in wind energy investment. 84% of roofs in Cascade County are solar viable. Homeowners and renters could save $1.6 million in energy savings per year.

Exciting investment announcements made recently by Berkshire Hathaway Energy Montana and Calumet's Montana Renewables demonstrate the potential for the Great Falls Montana trade area.

Today the Great Falls Development Alliance is releasing the RMI slide decks that you can download to dig into the details:

Energy Assessment Executive Summary

Energy Market Overview

Transmission

Hydrogen & eFuels

Energy Efficient & Healthy Buildings

Commissioning this in-depth industry analysis is part of our ongoing strategic planning process that we use to focus our economic development efforts on pursuing market-drive opportunities and identifying barriers that need to be overcome to make our region more competitive to attract investment.

We will continue to work with RMI and partners to complete the market analysis, then put it to work! RMI helped us identify great opportunities, so much so that we have already created a new Business Development Officer position to focus on attracting more energy investment and working to overcome barriers.

We recently released Freight and Downtown Great Falls Market Assessments which are available on our GrowGreatFallsMontana.org website, as is our 2024-2026 Economic Development Strategy.

Thanks!

Brett

Brett Doney

President & CEO

BDoney@GrowGreatFalls.org

1-406-750-2119

Our Mission

Grow diverse economic opportunities that enhance quality of life.

GFDA is a certified Community Development Financial Institution and a 501(c)3 charitable organization. High Plains Financial is a certified Community Development Corporation that offers SBA 504 loans statewide. GFDA and High Plains Financial are Equal Opportunity Employers, Lenders and Providers.

GFDA is proud to host a Montana Small Business Development Center, a Montana APEX Accelerator, and a Montana Food & Ag Development Center. GFDA is a certified Montana MicroBusiness Development Corporation.

GFDA was the first economic development organization in the Rocky Mountain West to earn accreditation from the International Economic Development Council.

For more info, click to our website.