2009 Basin Electric Annual Meeting of the Membership
Gary G. Loop, Dakota Gasification Company Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, reports on activity at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant during the 2009 Annual Meeting.
Dakota Gasification Company - January 8, 2010
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Perfect autumn weather greeted the more than 700 members and other attendees at Basin Electric's 2009 Annual Meeting of the Membership Nov. 4-5 in Bismarck, ND. The theme of this year's meeting was "Stability in a Climate of Change."
Although many other organizations have faced significant economic challenges in the past year, Basin Electric and its subsidiaries have remained stable. Basin Electric's board and management said there are many reasons to be proud of the past year's accomplishments, most notably: the successful financing of our construction program; the vote to make Corn Belt Power Cooperative a Class A member and a District 11 board seat; the decision by the Surface Transportation Board regarding captive rail shippers, and further diversification of our energy portfolio.
In the middle of a national recession, Basin Electric grew its businesses, improved its operating practices, and renewed its pledge to enhance and protect its energy resources and manage related costs of power for the benefit of our rural electric member-owners.
Dakota Gasification Company Report
Dakota Gasification Company Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Gary G. Loop reported to the membership on the Great Plains Synfuels Plant activity during the 2009 Annual Meeting. Following are a few excerpts from his speech:
"To improve revenue and contain costs, the Efficiency Improvement Program has taught us to set aggressive goals to increase production, increase byproduct recovery, and decrease energy use throughout the plant’s operation. We are doing well on our path to reaching our five dollars a dekatherm target and look forward to continuing this trend.
Culture of accountability
"We continue our work to change the culture of accountability and ownership at the Synfuels Plant by providing visual cost data for more real-time decision making. We will incorporate software solutions to better understand plant cost breakdown. The new systems will incorporate a plant wide management control structure, common variance reporting, and plant key performance indicators as discussed earlier. We plan to publish a daily strategic report on how we have done for the day to show everyone how their actions affect the bottom line.
Managing costs
"With gas prices fluctuating, we need to work hard to manage costs so that we remain stable. As we continue to search for ways to control costs, we are confident that we will find solutions to create the stability that is necessary to survive. We remain focused on the goal of producing gas at five dollars a dekatherm over the next several years."
Headquarters
1600 E. Interstate Ave.
PO Box 5540
Bismarck, ND 58506-5540 USA
701.221.4400
Great Plains Synfuels Plant
420 County Road 26
Beulah, ND 58523-9400 USA
701.873.2100
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