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Deer Creek Station

Construction has begun on Basin Electric's Deer Creek Station, a 300-net megawatt natural gas combined-cycle generation facility near Elkton, SD, in Brookings County. The project was approved by Basin Electric's board of directors in October 2007.

Gavin McCollam, Basin Electric's manager of mechanical and performance engineering, is the project coordinator. McCollam says the power plant is needed to meet growing member load requirements and will serve as an intermediate power supply designed to "cycle" with demand. Construction will  take about 18 months.

Separate “Record of Decisions” for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) were issued by the Western Area Power Administration and the Rural Utilities Service, June 30, 2010, and July 15, 2010, respectively. The Notice of Availability of the Record of Decision was published in the Federal Register July 27, 2010.. A Permit to Construct was issued by the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources June 29, 2010. An Energy Conversion Facility Siting Permit and another siting permit for the associated natural gas pipeline required to bring fuel to the plant were both issued from the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission on May 18, 2010.

(Above) Location of Deer Creek Station relative to the cities of Elkton, Brookings, and White and the proposed route (red line) of the pipeline that will connect to the Northern Border Pipeline.

The power plant will use natural gas delivered via the Northern Border Pipeline and a new 14-mile underground pipeline to the plant. The gas will be purchased from Dakota Gasification Company. Deer Creek will be connected to the electric grid by constructing less than one mile of new 345-kilovolt transmission line. The plant features two turbine-generator sets: one turbine fired by natural gas; the other is driven by steam. Both of the turbines are connected to generators. Major equipment at the plant includes a combustion turbine fueled by natural gas; a heat recovery steam generator; a steam turbine driven by steam created from the heat of the gas turbine’s exhaust; and an air-cooled condenser to cool and convert steam to water for re-use.

The project budget for Deer Creek Station is approximately $405 million. Estimated number of construction workers at peak (summer 2011) is 350 workers. Approximately 70 gas pipeline construction works will be on-site for three months, ending work in fall 2010. Beginning in spring 2011, approximately 8 transmission line construction workers will be on site. Deer Creek Station will operate about 12-16 hours per day, five days a week (more, if during peak load periods). The power plant is scheduled for commercial operation in June 2012 and will have about 30 full-time employees.

Project facts

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