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Integrated System

The backbone of the high-voltage transmission grid in the upper Great Plains region of eastern Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota is the Integrated System (IS) of the Western Area Power Administration (Western), Basin Electric, and Heartland Consumers Power District (Heartland). This jointly developed transmission system evolved from the 1962 Joint Transmission System (JTS) agreement of the Bureau of Reclamation with Basin Electric and 103 cooperative and municipal preference customers in this region.

This agreement was a crucial component in making Basin Electric a reality. It enabled Basin Electric to lease capacity on the federal transmission system and deliver ouput from its first power plant to members throughout the region by building only 12 miles of high-voltage transmission line.

Under the JTS agreement, the parties planned, constructed and operated transmission facilities needed to serve the customers of the region on an integrated single-system basis. In 1977, the U.S. Congress transferred the power marketing functions of the Bureau to Western, and Western assumed the responsibility for the operation of the JTS.

In response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Comission (FERC) open-access transmission orders 888 and 889, which set forth billing methodologies inconsistent with the JTS methodology, the JTS agreements were terminated. The Integrated System (IS) agreement between the Western, Basin Electric, and Heartland replaced the JTS agreements and provides open-access transmission service to customers in the region.

The IS facilities consist of 9,236 miles of interconnected high-voltage transmission lines (1,343 miles of line owned by Basin Electric) for delivering power from federal hydroelectric plants and thermal plants owned by the IS participants.

The integration of Western's hydropower and Basin Electric's thermal resources and shared use of dispatching staff and transmission facilities have saved consumers millions of dollars over the years.

Integrated System Use

The Integrated System is available for use by any party. The availability is posted for potential customers on the Internet-based OASIS (Open Access Same-time Information Systems). Third-party users pay the same transmission charges as the owners of the system in accordance with the comparability provisions of the FERC-approved tariff rate.

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