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Dedication of largest cooperative owned wind project in U.S.

Basin Electric held dedication ceremonies south of Minot, ND, on June 17, 2010, for the nation's largest wind project owned solely by a cooperative.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - June 16, 2010

Bismarck, N.D. – Dedication ceremonies were held today for the nation's largest wind project owned solely by a cooperative, located south of Minot, N.D. It was placed in operation in the remaining hours of 2009. The $250-million project is owned and operated by Prairiewinds ND 1, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Basin Electric.

There are 80 new wind turbines in the project, joining two "originals" that were placed in service in 2002.

North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven talked about the significance of developing wind resources in the state. "Basin Electric Power Cooperative has been a real leader in the move to incorporate wind power into its portfolio," he said. "With this project, Basin Electric demonstrates that in North Dakota, we can do it all – we can produce affordable power from all sources with good stewardship, for the benefit of North Dakota and the nation."

The last few turbines of the project went into operation at 8:25 p.m. on Dec. 30, meeting the cooperative's aggressive timeline to complete the project in 2009.

In his introductory remarks, Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager, said it's better to hold a dedication ceremony for a project when the weather is much nicer, so that's why June was chosen to dedicate this project. "The Minot wind project represents a significant contribution to Basin Electric's – and North Dakota's energy picture," he said. "With the operation of this project, Basin Electric has more than 450 megawatts of wind energy capacity in its portfolio."

Cliff Gjellstad, president of Basin Electric's board of directors, said this project and the other wind projects that Basin Electric is involved with are the result of a resolution passed by the membership in 2005 setting a goal of renewable generation resources equaling 10 percent of their peak demand needs. "Through renewable projects like this where we've either built them or purchased power from them, Basin Electric has been a leader in North Dakota for developing wind projects. With this project now operating, Basin Electric will exceed the requirement set by the member cooperatives."

Commenting that this is the largest wind project owned solely by a cooperative, Gjellstad said this really shows the innovation of Basin Electric. He went on to describe several projects throughout the cooperative's history that are "firsts" or set a standard that's in use today. "Through direct investments and annual payments under power purchase agreements from other renewable resources, these projects represent a capital investment of more than $1 billion in renewable energy and more than 700 megawatts of wind generation committed and constructed by the end of 2010," Gjellstad said.

A member system of Basin Electric, Verendrye Electric Cooperative, Velva, N.D., provided a tremendous local force throughout the development of this project. Speaking at the ceremony, Bruce Carlson, Verendrye Electric general manager, said this is a dream come true for him after collecting wind data from the old radar base back in the late 70s and early 80s.

"We knew we had the wind resource and Basin Electric was able to fit all the puzzle pieces together making the dream a reality." He also congratulated the Minot Air Force Base for being one of the first customers to buy renewable energy from the first two wind turbines that were built in 2002. "The air base folks were an integral part in getting the first two wind turbines operating, and now it's grown to be one of the largest wind farms in the country."

State and federal agencies also played a key role in the project. "I'd like to thank the North Dakota Public Service Commission, along with other state and federal regulators, for their assistance and commitment to seeing this project through and their commitment to wind development in North Dakota," Harper says.

Gjellstad pointed out that there are actually three wind projects south of Minot and north of Max. The first two are called Minot Wind 1 and Minot Wind 2. Each of these projects interconnects with a substation owned by Central Power Electric Cooperative, Minot, a Basin Electric member cooperative.

Five wind turbines are associated with these two projects. Minot Wind 1 is the first two turbines right near Radar Base Hill that were built in 2002. The other three are part of the new ones built in 2009. Both of these projects connect into the substation near there. The remaining 77 turbines interconnect with a new substation, adjacent to the O&M building, to connect to a Western Area Power Administration (Western) 115-kV transmission line.

"This also highlights the value of the long-standing partnership with Western on the Integrated System. Interconnecting to Western's line, which crosses the project site, avoided the need for constructing about two miles of interconnection line and a 230-kilovolt interconnection substation," Gjellstad said. "Western's engineering support was critical to the success of this project." Western is a Federal Power Marketing Administration.

The Minot wind projects are expected to need about eight full-time operations and maintenance employees.

In other wind project developments:

Basin Electric will be participating in another dedication ceremony June 22 in South Dakota for the Day County Wind Energy Center in the northeast part of the state. Day County is a NextEra Energy Resources project with a generating capacity of 99 megawatts. Basin Electric will buy the production from the project. Commercial operation of the 66, 1.5-MW wind turbines began in April 2010.
PrairieWinds SD 1, another Basin Electric subsidiary, continues planning and permitting for a 151.5-megawatt wind project in central South Dakota. It's currently in the environmental permitting process. Engineering activities are underway for constructing roads, the substation and collector system, and micrositing the turbines. Construction of the 101 wind turbines is scheduled to begin later this year and be online by early 2011.
Basin Electric and NextEra Energy Resources signed an agreement in early 2010 that will allow development of a 100-megawatt wind project near Baldwin, N.D. This will be the sixth agreement between Basin Electric and NextEra Energy with NextEra Energy building, owning and operating a large wind project and Basin Electric purchasing the electricity.

About Basin Electric Power Cooperative

Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 136 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 2.8 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; three peaking stations – the Spirit Mound Station, Vermillion, S.D.; the Groton Generation Station Groton, S.D., and the Wisdom Unit 2 Station, Spencer, Iowa; 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.; and 80 wind turbines near Minot, N.D. (2010).

Basin Electric is also the sole purchaser of electricity from sources operated by others including: six baseload waste-heat stations owned and operated by Ormat Technologies Inc. along the Northern Border Pipeline; the output of three wind farms owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, Juno Beach, Fla. (These wind farms are located near Wilton and Edgeley/Kulm, N.D.; the other is near Highmore, S.D.)

Basin Electric has long-term, purchase power agreements of varying capacities from the George Neal Station Unit 4 (coal-based), Sioux City, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Walter Scott, Jr. Energy Center (coal-based) units 3 and 4, Council Bluffs, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Wisdom Station (coal based), Spencer, Iowa, operated by Corn Belt Power Cooperative; peaking stations located in Spencer, Estherville, Pocahontas, and Webster City, Iowa; the Duane Arnold Energy Center (nuclear), Cedar Rapids, Iowa, operated by NextEra Energy Resources; the Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska; and three Iowa wind farms – near Superior/Lakota, operated by Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative; in Hancock County operated by NextEra Energy Resources and in Palo Alto County operated by Crosswind Energy, LLC. For more information, go to www.basinelectric.com.

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