DCS Installation Scheduled for North Dakota Plant by October 2004

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Minnkota Power Cooperative is making plans to install a Distributive Control System (DCS) to Unit 2 (PEC 31000246) at the Milton R Young Power Station (Plant 1518113) by the fall of 2004. The plant is located near Center, North Dakota, in Oliver County.

The 734-megawatt lignite coal-fired facility includes two units. Unit 1 started commercial operation in 1970 and consists of a 257-megawatt (MW) General Electric turbine and generator set, with a Babcock & Wilcox cyclone-fired boiler. Unit 2 has a Siemens Westinghouse turbine and generator set, with the same kind of boiler as Unit 1, and came on line in the summer of 1977.

Unit 2 is owned by Square Butte Electric Cooperative, a cooperative corporation in North Dakota, as a result of a $150 million purchase from Minnesota Power in 1998. The contract allows Minnesota Power (71%) and Minnkota Power Cooperative (29%) to buy power from Square Butte through the year 2027.

The Young plant uses lignite coal as its primary fuel. It is the lowest rank of coal in heat content moisture. About four and a half tons of lignite coal is delivered to the plant annually by BNI Coal Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allete, who owns the Center Mine coal mine (Plant 1056313) in North Dakota. Allete (NYSE: ALE) (Duluth, Minnesota) provides energy, communications, and automotive services to consumers across North America.

Industrial Contracting Incorporated (Bismarck, North Dakota) will be performing the installation of the system.

Minnkota Power Cooperative (Grand Forks, North Dakota) is a generation and transmission cooperative providing wholesale electricity to eleven distribution cooperatives and twelve municipal utilities in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Minnesota Power (Duluth, Minnesota) is a diversified services company whose electric operations serve customers in central and northeastern Minnesota.

Industrialinfo.com's new Industrial Control Systems Database identifies control systems for over 2,000 units in the U.S. Chemical Processing, Petroleum Refining, and Power industries. Users of the database can quickly identify prospects based on the age and type of system currently being used at a plant site.