Permits filed for Deer Creek Station
Two permit applications were filed with the South Dakota PUC for Basin Electric’s proposed Deer Creek Station and associated facilities.
Dakota Gasification Company - July 30, 2009
Two permit applications were filed with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission for Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s proposed Deer Creek Station and associated facilities. The Deer Creek Station will be a 300-megawatt, natural gas-fired, combined cycle power plant located southeast of White, S.D., near Brookings.
Gavin McCollam, Basin Electric manager of performance and mechanical engineering and Deer Creek Station project coordinator, said the applications were filed July 28. He said one application is a request for an Energy Conversion Facility Siting Permit for the Deer Creek Station and a short transmission line (3/4-mile). The second is requesting a siting permit for the associated natural gas pipeline required to bring fuel to the plant.
McCollam said the Public Utilities Commission has set Sept. 16 as the date for a public hearing on the permits. The time and location have not yet been determined.
The permit applications are the latest in a series required from local, state and federal entities before construction can begin. McCollam said an application for a PSD (Prevention of Significant Deterioration) Air Construction Permit was filed May 29th with the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
McCollam said the $400-million power plant is being built to help meet increasing member power requirements.
The Deer Creek Station will be Basin Electric’s first combined cycle power plant. It will use two turbine-generator sets: one fired by natural gas, the other powered by steam. Natural gas for the power plant will come from the Northern Border Pipeline, located 14 miles to the north, via a 10-inch diameter pipeline to be constructed for the station.
Construction for Deer Creek is projected to begin in mid-2010. The power plant is scheduled for commercial operation in June 2012 and will have about 30 full-time employees.
The Deer Creek Station will be an integral part of a power supply network providing electricity to rural electric consumers served by H-D Electric Cooperative, Clear Lake, S.D., and Sioux Valley Energy, Colman, S.D. The electricity produced by Basin Electric is provided to H-D Electric and Sioux Valley Energy through East River Electric Power Cooperative, Madison, S.D.
About Basin Electric Power Cooperative
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 125 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 2.6 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.; the energy produced from six baseload waste-heat stations owned and operated by Ormat Technologies Inc., along the Northern Border Pipeline; and the output of three wind farms owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, Juno Beach, Fla. The wind farms are located near Wilton and Edgeley/Kulm, N.D.; the other is near Highmore, S.D. For more information, go to www.basinelectric.com.
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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