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About Us

Basin Electric Headquarters in Bismarck, ND

Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric) is one of the largest electric generation and transmission (G&T) cooperatives in the United States. We are the parent company of eight subsidiaries. 

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 135 member cooperative systems
• Members' service territories comprise 540,000 square miles in nine states
• Operates 3,767 megawatts (MW) wholesale electric generating capacity
• • Total coal and gas generation         2,827 MW
  • Total renewable generation                395 MW
  • Total generation under construction*   575 MW
  • Total committed wind projects in the Dakotas: 250.5 MW
• Owns 1,880 miles of  high-voltage transmission, 56 switchyards and 101 telecommunication sites
• Serves 2.8 million electric consumers 

* total does not include these committed projects because they are NOT under construction: Deer Creek Station, PrairieWinds SD 1, or Day County Wind Farm

Energy profile 

Basin Electric’s core business is generating and transmitting wholesale bulk electric power to customers, primarily to our 135 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 owns 2,827.5 megawatts (MW) and operates 3,767 MW of electric generating capacity of which 953 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. Our electric generation facilities are in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Iowa.  Basin Electric is in the process of building and purchasing more renewable generation, both wind and waste heat energy. Most of Basin Electric's baseload capacity comes from coal. Peaking facilities are oil or gas-based. In addition to new wind and waste heat generation, construction projects underway include a coal-based generation unit in Wyoming, gas turbine and combined cycle facilties and related transmission construction in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota, and an emissions control upgrade at the Leland Olds Station in North Dakota. 

Basin Electric has purchased a total of 672.1 MW of electric generation capacity/energy, including 270.1 total MW of renewable energy of which 225.8 MW are wind energy, and 44 MW are waste heat (known as recovered energy generation - REG) energy, and 375 kW is from a bio-gas facility in South Dakota. Our purchased power portfolio also includes 62 MW of nuclear energy.

Discover ... more about us

Corporate	Employment
At a glance - generation and transmission statistics	Job openings
Boards of directors' profiles	Apply for a job
Executive profiles	Internships
Financial reports and highlights	Professional development
Goverance structure of electric cooperatives	Our employees
History of Basin Electric	Our communities
Joint Participant (MBPP)
Safety and health
Subsidiary profiles

Members
Alphabetical list of member systems	Annual meeting of the membership
Map of members' service territories	Efficiency resources
In the spotlight	Service programs for members

 

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