An energy industry in transition
Basin Electric Power Cooperative taps into
wider range of resources
Editor’s note: OWAA members and spouses attending the Bismarck conference are invited to attend a cost-free, pre-conference tour Friday, June 20 (details to be announced), and be updated on fossil fuels and alternative energy sources in our future.
By Mary Klecker-Green
Basin Power Communications
Basin Electric invites OWAA members and spouses on an energy tour. It will include a visit to a wind farm in Wilton, a tour of the Freedom Mine, where you can learn how lignite is mined and see land reclamation, and a visit to the coal-based Antelope Valley Station, the site for developing future carbon-capture technology. The day will wrap up with a tour of the Great Plains Synfuels Plant and the largest carbon sequestration project in the world. Meals will be served, and an entertaining, fun and educational day is promised.
The vast golden prairies of North Dakota tell tales of homesteading, fruitful harvests and a simple way of life filled with hard work.
But they also tell another story. Beneath the golden waves of grain and native prairie lies a natural resource – black gold, some call it.
In North Dakota, lignite reserves carry the promise of a domestic, reliable and affordable energy source to help carry the nation’s energy needs for the next 200 years.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a regional generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D., serves a nine-state area from Canada to Mexico. More than 2.5 million people use the energy produced by the cooperative.
The cooperative is changing. It has grown to include a variety of generation resources, including additional coal-based plants in North Dakota and Wyoming, the largest wind farms in the Dakotas, additional wind-based projects, a series of recovered energy generation units that produce zero emissions, and planning for cooperative-owned wind farms.
Basin Electric has a long history of being a steward of the land. In fact, long before anyone was talking about “environmental awareness,” Basin Electric was putting to practice the simple concept of respect for the environment. Even before laws on reclaiming mined lands were passed, Basin Electric made sure all coal contracts required that surface-mined land be reclaimed. As part of its commitment to care for the land, the cooperative strongly supported the passage of statewide reclamation laws. This commitment has earned nationwide recognition. That’s because the people who own Basin Electric are the very people who use the electricity the cooperative generates, and the majority of those consumers have a stake in the land – in the environment – because many of them are farmers and ranchers.
Setting the cooperative apart from any other on the continent is Basin Electric’s subsidiary Dakota Gasification Co., which operates the only plant of its kind in North America. The Great Plains Synfuels Plant is a prairie pioneer since it gasifies lignite, turning this abundant resource into valuable synthetic natural gas. Taking the pioneering spirit a step further, the Synfuels Plant also operates the largest carbon capture project in the world. Carbon dioxide, a byproduct of the gasification process, is captured and shipped via a 205-mile pipeline to the oilfields in Canada, which uses it for enhanced oil recovery.
As you follow the Energy Trail, you’ll see how North Dakota’s prairies help fuel the nation. But you also see how farms, ranches, busy communities and unlimited recreational opportunities thrive right next door to industry. It’s partnership that helps North Dakota to fuel and feed the nation.
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