About Us

Wilton wind farm in front of a sunset

Corporate profile

  • A not-for-profit generation and transmission cooperative incorporated in 1961 to provide supplemental power to a consortium of rural electric cooperatives
  • Diverse energy portfolio: coal, gas, oil, nuclear, distributed, and renewable energy, including wind power
  • Consumer owned by 141 member cooperative systems
  • Serves 3 million electric consumers
  • Members' service territories comprise 550,000 square miles in nine states
  • By end of year 2019 Basin Electric will operate 5,146 megawatts (MW) of wholesale electric generating capability and have 7,050 MW of capability within its resource portfolio
  • Operates 11 maintenance shop output locations in 4 states
  • Owns 2,468 miles and maintains 2,534 miles of high-voltage transmission
  • Owns and/or maintains substation equipment in 85 locations and has equipment ownership in 19 additional locations
  • Owns and maintains telecommunications equipment at 209 telecommunication sites

Statistics updated Feb. 25, 2019.

Resource profile

Basin Electric’s core business is generating and transmitting wholesale bulk electric power to customers, primarily to our 141 member rural electric systems, which are located in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Our largest subsidiary, the for-profit Dakota Gasification Company, owns and operates the Great Plains Synfuels Plant near Beulah, North Dakota, which gasifies lignite coal and captures some of the carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) and sends them to depleted Canadian oil fields for geologic sequestration.

Basin Electric will own 4,174 megawatts (MW) and operate 5,146 MW of electric generating capability by end of year 2019, of which 980 MW is for participants of the Missouri Basin Power Project (MBPP), and 80 MW is jointly owned by Basin Electric and its Class A member, Corn Belt Power Cooperative, Humboldt, Iowa. Our electric generation facilities are located in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Iowa. Most of Basin Electric's baseload capacity comes from coal. Peaking facilities are oil or natural gas-based.

Basin Electric’s total winter season generation capability portfolio by the winter 2019/2020 season will be 7,051 MW. Of that, Basin Electric has purchased a total of 2,846 MW of electric generation capability, including 1,805 total MW from renewable resources of which 1,761 MW are from wind turbines, and 44 MW are waste heat energy (known as recovered energy generation - REG). Our purchased power portfolio also includes 62 MW of nuclear power.