Expanding to meet power needs

Energy industry, growing population continue to strain utility infrastructure

BY KYLIE BLANCHARD

North Dakota’s expanding oil play is creating added demand on the utilities serving the Bakken region. As the state tops all-time oil production and population records, the need for additional utilities infrastructure continues to grow. “As a result of the drilling and production activity, electrical loads are growing rapidly,” says Curt Pearson, media and community relations manager with Basin Electric Power Cooperative. “Basin Electric’s member cooperatives serve much of that load.”

Basin Electric is the largest generation and transmission cooperative in the nation in terms of land area served. The company provides wholesale, supplemental electric service for 137 member cooperatives and 2.8 million consumers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and New Mexico.

In 2009, Basin Electric and its member cooperatives planned for 400 megawatts (MW) of load to develop in the Bakken region, but due to the increased demand, the company is now planning for loads to grow an additional 1,000 MW by 2025.

Several new and proposed projects are helping to meet the region’s rising demand, including the recently completed Pioneer Generation Station near Williston, N.D., a three-unit natural gasfueled peaking station.

The Lonesome Creek Station Unit 1, a single 45-MW natural gas-fired peaking station near Watford City, N.D., was completed in December. Two additional 45-MW units are proposed at this site, at an additional investment of $115 million. Pending approval by the Public Service Commission, that expansion will begin in May.

“Basin Electric has also identified the need for additional electric transmission capacity in northwestern North Dakota,” Pearson says. The company is proposing to construct, own and operate a new 345-kilovolt transmission line and associated supporting infrastructure named the AVS to Neset transmission project.

The $350 million transmission line will traverse Dunn, McKenzie, Mercer, Mountrail and Williams counties and consist of 200 miles of new single circuit and double circuit transmission line, the construction of two new substations, and modifications to three existing substations. Pending receipt of all required permits, construction is slated to begin this year.

“These generation projects, combined with the proposed AVS to Neset transmission project, which allows access to electric power from other regional utilities and power projects, will serve to meet the needs of the region,” Pearson says.

In November, Basin Electric signed two power purchase agreements in the development of the Sunflower Wind Project and the Antelope Hills Wind Project. Both projects are located in North Dakota. The company signed a third power purchase agreement in December associated with the Campbell County Wind Farm in South Dakota. “With the addition of these new projects, the renewable portion of Basin Electric’s generating portfolio will be more than 1,100 MW,” Pearson says.

The company’s expansion is driven by the needs of its member, he says. “Our member cooperatives in North Dakota — Burke-Divide Electric, Mountrail-Williams Electric, McKenzie Electric and Roughrider Electric in particular — are experiencing significant increases in their members’ electric needs. Basin Electric works closely with these members to help meet their needs for affordable electric energy.”

Verendrye Electric Cooperative will also be working to improve its system’s reliability and serve its expanding membership through the help of a $63 million loan from the Rural Utilities Services, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The cooperative, headquartered in Velva, N.D., serves 134 townships, which includes 15,000 meters over 4,500 miles of line in seven North Dakota counties.

Verendrye Electric Cooperative was selected through an application process, and the loan is based on a long-range 20-year engineering work plan, as well as a short-term engineering work plan approved by the RUS. “Approximately half of the funding will be used for serving new member accounts over the next five years and the other half will be used for improved system reliability by replacing line and poles in the rural areas due to system aging,” says Tom Rafferty, community relations manager for Verendrye Electric Cooperative.

The loan allows the cooperative to be reimbursed for the system improvements once the projects are completed and will finance the improvements over a maximum 33-year repayment period.

In the next five years, Rafferty says the cooperative estimates 1,000 new accounts per year. “This loan allows us to continue to grow and maintain the good, reliable electric service that both rural and urban members expect and deserve.” PB

Kylie Blanchard Contributing writer 701-391-0373, kylie.blanchard@hotmail.com