Dive Brief:
- The North Dakota Public Service Commission approved Basin Electric Power Cooperative's plan to add two 45-MW natural gas-fired combustion turbines at its Lonesome Creek Station near Watford City, taking the capacity to 135 MW.
- Construction of the $102 million project is to start in May and be finished by the end of the year.
- Lonesome Creek is a peaking plant that will help meet the burgeoning demand for power in western North Dakota, but commissioners cautioned that more baseload generation is still needed. They said Basin Electric has estimated conservatively a need for 1,000 MW of new capacity.
Dive Insight:
It's all about the shale oil. Western North Dakota may be going wild with the temporary housing, water shortages and crime rates, but for Basin Electric it means booming business. Last year Basin projected its demand to grow about 3.7% a year, much of it in the western North Dakota and eastern Montana shale regions. Where else can you find a number like that nowadays?
Basin has been going full steam to supply its member rural distribution cooperatives, which can barely keep up with the explosion of oil development in the Bakken Shale. Natural gas simple-cycle plants like Lonesome Creek go up fast. The coal-heavy generation and transmission co-op also has deals to buy 300-plus MW from wind projects in North and South Dakota. Basin is also developing transmission to get more power to the shale areas.
