State Regulator Approves What Would be North Dakota's Largest Power Plant

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Last week, the North Dakota Public Service Commission (PSC) approved Basin Electric Power Cooperative's (BEPC) (Bismark, North Dakota) plan to construct the natural gas-fired Bison Generation Station, which would be North Dakota's largest power plant.

The roughly $4 billion plant is designed to utilize two natural gas-fired, combined-cycle (NGCC) units to produce up to 1,490 megawatts (MW) of power; this would make Bison the largest single power plant in the state. Located near Epping in eastern Williams County, it also would be the state's first combined-cycle power plant.

The North Dakota PSC voted to approve BEPC's siting application for the project after Basin officials made comments at a public hearing in late June. Benjamin Hertz, Basin Electric's manager of power supply planning, testified the company was forecasting higher power usage from its traditional customers.

Hertz further elaborated on the Bison plant in a BEPC press release: "Bison Generation Station addresses the growing energy demands of member electric cooperatives, which serve a wide variety of traditional load sectors including agriculture, oil and gas, ethanol, manufacturing and residential."

In the recent PSC hearing, Commissioner Jill Kringstad echoed the BEPC's previously stated construction timeline: the first unit is planned to be constructed by October 2028, with commercial operation in February or March of 2029, while the second unit is planned to be constructed by November 2029, with commercial operation in March 2030.

Preliminary site work is expected to begin this fall.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project and Plant databases can click here to read the project report and here for the plant profile.

Basin Electric provides power to smaller electric co-ops, although it has said it is developing a program to deal with large-load customers such as data centers.

But other energy companies are building out adequate generation capacity across North Dakota.

Coal-fired power plants accounted for 55% of North Dakota's electricity generation in 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), followed by wind energy (36%), natural gas (5%) and hydro (4%). The state does not have any nuclear plants.

Also according to the agency, independent power producers account for about one-fourth of the state's generation from utility-scale facilities (1 megawatt (MW) or larger capacity), and all of it is wind power.

Among the utility-scale windfarms under construction in North Dakota are Orsted A/S' (Fredericia, Denmark) grassroot Badger Windfarm near Wishek, which is designed to provide 250 MW of power. About 140 miles northwest of Wishek, NextEra Energy Incorporated (Juno Beach, Florida) is at work on a fourth phase of construction at its Oliver County Windfarm. Phase IV includes erecting 73 turbines rated at 2.82 MW each to provide about another 200 MW of power. The project is set to be completed this fall, followed by Orsted's project in 2026. Subscribers can learn more by viewing the reports on the Orsted and NextEra wind projects.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 Trillion (USD).