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Seventh Basin Electric heat recovery unit operational

Another power plant has been added to Basin Electric’s generating family. It’s located near Garvin, Minn., and is “fueled” by the heat from hot exhaust.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative - October 29, 2009

Bismarck, N.D. – Another power plant has been added to Basin Electric’s generating family. It’s located near Garvin, Minn., and is “fueled” by the heat from hot exhaust. It’s the seventh heat recovery generating unit that has been built since 2006. The last, and eighth one, will be operational by the end of this year.

Allen Boushee, distributed generation engineer III, said the plant near Garvin was placed in operation last week and joins plants located near Manning, Zeeland and St. Anthony, N.D.; and near Aberdeen, Clark and Estelline, S.D. The Manning site became operational in January 2009, while the Zeeland site became operational in December 2008. The other four became operational in the fall of 2006.

All the heat recovery units are owned and operated by subsidiaries of Ormat Technologies, a Nevada-based company. Boushee said Basin Electric has signed power purchase agreements with the subsidiaries for the development of these facilities. The last generating station to incorporate the technology developed by Ormat is located near Culbertson, Mont. It’s scheduled to be operational by the end of this year.

The heat recovery generating stations – referred to as recovered energy generation (REG) units – are located at existing compressor stations along the Northern Border Pipeline. Each REG unit uses the hot exhaust gases from the compressor station to generate electricity. The compressor stations are driven by natural gas-fueled turbines. The exhaust temperature of the gas-fueled turbine is about 800-900 degrees F. and that exhaust heat is recovered using heat exchangers installed on the exhaust stack. The recovered heat is then used to vaporize a fluid to drive the Ormat power turbines. The Northern Border Pipeline travels in a southeasterly direction across North Dakota and South Dakota as it carries natural gas from Canada to the Chicago area.

Boushee said each of the sites has a generating capacity of about 5.5 megawatts. He said the projects will have minimal environmental impact, with the electric generation considered to have “near zero” emissions.

Construction on the substation and transmission interconnection for the Garvin site has been coordinated by East River Electric Power Cooperative, Madison, S.D. Ron Rebenitsch, Basin Electric’s Manager of Alternative Technologies, noted that the support of East River in interconnecting the Garvin site was critical to bringing this project into Basin Electric’s power supply resource base.

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 purchase power agreements of varying capacities from the Neal IV Station (coal-based), Sioux City, Iowa, operated by MidAmerican Energy; the Walter Scott Station (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, Esterville, 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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