Meeting set to discuss station agreement modification
Western is hosting an open house public scoping meeting Oct. 7, in Groton, SD, to discuss modifying its LGIA for the Groton Generation Station.
Dakota Gasification Company - October 1, 2009
The Western Area Power Administration is hosting an open house public scoping meeting Oct. 7, in Groton, SD, to discuss modifying what’s called its Large Generator Interconnection Agreement (LGIA) for Basin Electric’s Groton Generation Station. The modification would eliminate a condition in the agreement that limits the output of the Groton Station to an annual average generating capacity of 50 megawatts. The two generating units at the Groton Generation Station are located five miles south of Groton and interconnect to the Western transmission system. Each unit has a generating capacity of 95 megawatts.
According to Cris Miller, senior environmental projects administrator, Basin Electric proposes to modify the agreement with Western to eliminate the 50 megawatt average so it can operate more often throughout the year.
Modifying the LGIA requires that Western prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). When the units became operational in 2006 and 2008 Miller said the Rural Utility Service and Western prepared an Environmental Assessment, and based on those studies issued separate “findings of no significant impact” on July 25, 2005, and June 20, 2008, respectively for each unit.
Dave Raatz, manager of power supply planning, said Basin Electric needs to eliminate the operating limit to help serve increased load demand for electric power in the eastern portion of its service area. The eastern portion of Basin Electric’s service area comprises western Nebraska, northwestern and central Iowa, portions of southern Minnesota, all of South Dakota, portions of eastern Montana, and western and central North Dakota. “The need for additional generating capacity is driven by the increasing electrical power requirements of the Basin Electric membership consumers since 1999,” he added.
The open house public scoping meeting will be held at the Groton Community Center, 109 East 3rd Avenue, in Groton, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. CST. Representatives from Western and Basin Electric will be available to answer questions, offer more information about the proposed modification, and take comments. Miller said the comments received will help define the scope of the EIS. Western’s comment period for public comments on the proposed change extends through Oct. 23, 2009.
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