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
  • Members' service territories comprise 550,000 square miles in nine states
  • By end of year 2018 Basin Electric will operate 5,205 megawatts (MW) of wholesale electric generating capacity and have 6,702 MW of capacity within its generation portfolio
  • Owns 2,418 miles and maintains 2,505 miles of high-voltage transmission, and owns and maintains equipment in 82 switchyards and 217 telecommunication sites
  • Serves 3 million electric consumers

Statistics updated April 5, 2018.

Energy profile

Basin Electric’s core business is generating and transmitting wholesale bulk electric power to customers, primarily to our 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, ND, 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 4,228 megawatts (MW) and operate 5,205 MW of electric generating capacity by end of year 2018, of which 987 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, IA. Basin Electric owns generation in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Iowa, and additionally purchases power from facilities in Minnesota, Colorado, and Nebraska. 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 capacity portfolio by the winter 2018/2019 season will be 6,702 MW. Of that, Basin Electric has purchased a total of 2,475 MW of electric generation capacity/energy, including 1,405 total MW of renewable energy of which 1,361 MW are wind energy, and 44 MW are waste heat energy (known as recovered energy generation - REG). Our purchased power portfolio also includes 62 MW of nuclear energy.