What's New
Basin Electric to Participate in Study for New Power Plant
Basin Electric Power Cooperative will be joining three other utilities in a study to evaluate the feasibility of building a new coal-based power plant in the Center, N.D., area.
The other participants in the study include Minnesota Power, Duluth; Minnkota Power Cooperative, Grand Forks; and Montana-Dakota Utilities Company, Bismarck. The focus of the study will be in the vicinity of the Milton R. Young generating station operated by Minnkota.
Basin Electric is already participating in a study for a new generating resource with Minnkota, MDU and other regional utilities, which is evaluating potential locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa.
The study planned for the Young Station area will evaluate the potential for fuel supply, transmission requirements and water availability for a 500-megawatt capacity generating station.
Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, said the Cooperative has a need for additional generating capacity. "It makes sense to explore all possibilities and alternatives to meet this demand," he said.
Harper said its incumbent upon Basin Electric to continually evaluate the potential of the various options, and a joint-effort among the participants is one that should be investigated. "As a power supplier to electric cooperatives, we want to provide assurance that any option we select for future generating capacity is the best, most cost-effective alternative," he said.
The feasibility study is expected to take about a year to complete. Any final resource decision by Basin Electric is subject to approval by the Cooperative's directors.
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 121 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 1.8 million consumers.
Basin Electric's generating resources include two coal-based power plants in North Dakota - the Antelope Valley Station, Beulah, and the Leland Olds Station, Stanton; a coal-based power plant in Wyoming - the Laramie River Station, Wheatland; an oil-based peaking station - the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D.; nine combustion-turbine generators (natural gas) in the Gillette, Wyo., area; four wind turbines - two near Minot, N.D., and two near Chamberlain, S.D. Basin Electric already purchased the entire output of two other 40-MW wind farms owned and operated by FPL Energy - one near Edgeley/Kulm in North Dakota and another near Highmore in South Dakota; and two other 750-kilowatt wind turbines, one located near Pipestone, Minn., and another near Rosebud, S.D. Basin Electric will also purchase the entire output of the Wilton Wind Energy Center.
________________________________________
For more information on items in the What's New section contact:
Ann M. Foster
Director of Communications
515.727.8945 or afoster@iowarec.org
The other participants in the study include Minnesota Power, Duluth; Minnkota Power Cooperative, Grand Forks; and Montana-Dakota Utilities Company, Bismarck. The focus of the study will be in the vicinity of the Milton R. Young generating station operated by Minnkota.
Basin Electric is already participating in a study for a new generating resource with Minnkota, MDU and other regional utilities, which is evaluating potential locations in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa.
The study planned for the Young Station area will evaluate the potential for fuel supply, transmission requirements and water availability for a 500-megawatt capacity generating station.
Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, said the Cooperative has a need for additional generating capacity. "It makes sense to explore all possibilities and alternatives to meet this demand," he said.
Harper said its incumbent upon Basin Electric to continually evaluate the potential of the various options, and a joint-effort among the participants is one that should be investigated. "As a power supplier to electric cooperatives, we want to provide assurance that any option we select for future generating capacity is the best, most cost-effective alternative," he said.
The feasibility study is expected to take about a year to complete. Any final resource decision by Basin Electric is subject to approval by the Cooperative's directors.
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 121 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 1.8 million consumers.
Basin Electric's generating resources include two coal-based power plants in North Dakota - the Antelope Valley Station, Beulah, and the Leland Olds Station, Stanton; a coal-based power plant in Wyoming - the Laramie River Station, Wheatland; an oil-based peaking station - the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D.; nine combustion-turbine generators (natural gas) in the Gillette, Wyo., area; four wind turbines - two near Minot, N.D., and two near Chamberlain, S.D. Basin Electric already purchased the entire output of two other 40-MW wind farms owned and operated by FPL Energy - one near Edgeley/Kulm in North Dakota and another near Highmore in South Dakota; and two other 750-kilowatt wind turbines, one located near Pipestone, Minn., and another near Rosebud, S.D. Basin Electric will also purchase the entire output of the Wilton Wind Energy Center.
________________________________________
For more information on items in the What's New section contact:
Ann M. Foster
Director of Communications
515.727.8945 or afoster@iowarec.org
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