Basin Electric bet on synfuel paid off
Bismarck Tribune editorial declares the Great Plains Synfuels Plant has a remarkable story to tell.
Dakota Gasiification Company
- February 8, 2010
Originally published in The Bismarck Tribune
When Americans were forced to line up at the gas pumps in the 1970s, manufacture of synthetic gas became one of the national strategies for energy independence. Construction began on a pilot project in 1981 that would turn North Dakota lignite coal into natural gas, and the Great Plains Synfuels Plant began producing gas in the summer of 1984.
But producing and selling synthetic natural gas was a bumpy road. The companies that built the plant defaulted on $1.5 billion federal loans, and in October of 1988, Dakota Gasification Co., a subsidiary of Basin Electric Power Cooperative, purchased the plant from the U.S. Department of Energy for $1.3 billion.
The real, on-the-ground history of those events were filled with uncertainty and turmoil for the plant's workers and the communities of Beulah and Hazen. Not everyone believed that Basin was the right choice for owning and operating Great Plains. And no one knew how it would turn out.
Dakota Gasification recently made its final, $7.1 million payment on the gasification plant to the federal government.
It's not the end of the Great Plains story, but it's proof of Basin's commitment and cooperative skill. Achieving success, many times along the way, seemed improbable. There were set backs. Concerns about air quality were fixed. There have been step-by-step upgrades. By-product of the gasification process have been identified and developed for sale.
Dakota Gasification has invested nearly $400 million in Great Plains since its purchase. The gasification plant began capturing, and shipping by pipeline, CO2 to Canadian oil fields for enhancing the extraction of crude oil.
When Basin purchased Great Plains in 1988, fortunately most of the jobs stayed, and since another generation of workers have gone on the Great Plains payroll.
While the original investors did not see their expected return, the federal government has not lost out on the project, especially if production tax credits that Great Plains did not take advantage of are considered.
North Dakota has certainly come out on top. Not only in the jobs and income coming from Great Plains, but in the general development of the lignite industry in the state. The technological advances made at Great Plains and the coal-fired electrical generating plants in the state have proven lignite to be an economical energy source.
While we may not have achieved truly clean coal, harmful emissions from the plants today are substantially reduced from where they were in 1984 when Great Pains went into production. Further reductions in emissions, however, will be demanded by the federal government. This will be one of the challenges ahead for Great Plains and the state's other lignite users.
Great Plains Synfuels Plant tells a remarkable story about energy in North Dakota.
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
