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Leland Olds Station

Leland Olds Station's skyline has changed dramatically with the installation of the wet limestone scrubber stack.

The Leland Olds Station is Basin Electric’s first power plant. The station was named for former Federal Power Commission chairman, Leland Olds.

When Leland Olds Station Unit 1 went on-line in January 1966, it was the largest lignite-based power plant (222 megawatts) in the Western Hemisphere. Leland Olds Station Unit 2, a 447-megawatt unit located adjacent to Unit 1, began commercial operation in December 1975.

The majority of electricity produced at the Leland Olds Station is sent to substations near Fort Thompson and Watertown, SD, for delivery to Basin Electric’s member systems.

The station is located four miles southeast of Stanton, ND, along the Missouri River. Leland Olds Station is the only power plant in North Dakota that uses a “v-slot” coal unloading system. This v-shaped hopper and enclosure automatically unloads six rail cars at a time. It takes about one hour to unload a 60-car train. 

Station facts

• Leland Olds facts

  Located near Stanton, ND, this baseload plant is fueled by coal. Capacity: 669 megawatts Units: 2 Only ND power plant to use v-slot coal unloading system Unit 1 began commercial operation in January 1966 and Unit 2 began in December 1975.

  In 2007, construction began on a $410 million project to install a wet limestone scrubber to remove sulfur dioxide emissions
• Fuel consumption: 3.3 million tons of lignite produced at the Freedom Mine
• Water usage: 230,000 gallons per minute, most of which is released back to the Missouri River 
• Steam temperature: 1,005 degrees Fahrenheit

Unit 1

• Turbine: 290,000 horsepower to spin generator at 3,600 revolutions per minute
• Construction costs: $36 million
• $12 million upgrade in 1995: installation of low nitrogen-oxide burners on the boiler
  and a computer-based plant control system

Unit 2

• Turbine: 590,000 horsepower to spin generator at 3,600 revolutions per minute
• Construction costs: $109 million
   

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