Basin Electric GIS team instrumental to keeping electricity reliable

Basin Electric is on track to energize nearly 350 miles of high-voltage transmission line in western North Dakota by the end of 2026. This extensive transmission buildout prompted various teams across the cooperative to collaborate on routing, permitting, and design. Basin Electric’s geographic information systems (GIS) team was charged with organizing project information which allows users to manage the course of a project in a more efficient way.

Jason Brekke, Basin Electric senior GIS analyst, found his way into the GIS field during a time when there weren’t many GIS programs out there. Having declared a major in geography, Brekke decided to also take courses in remote sensing. He landed a cooperative education experience at the Upper Midwest Aerospace Consortium where he was introduced to satellite imagery. 

As a senior analyst, Brekke is tasked with making sure all tasks the team receives for GIS services get completed accurately and on time. He spends time researching new workflows and implementing them in Basin Electric’s Enterprise GIS. He works closely with GIS team members within Information Services and Telecommunications (IS&T), who ensure that Enterprise GIS is secure and reliable. “As a GIS professional, you have to dedicate time to keeping up on the technology. We work closely with our GIS IS&T staff to ensure that we are optimizing the value of the software Basin Electric is paying for,” Brekke says. 

GIS recently helped complete work on the Neset-to-Northshore project, which consisted of 27 miles of 230-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and a new substation. Currently, the GIS team is doing its part in the completion of several up-and-coming transmission line projects including the Roundup-to-Kummer Ridge 345-kV transmission line, the East Loop 345-kV transmission line, and two new 230-kV circuits from the Wheelock and Tande substations to the Canadian border.

Brekke says the best part about his job is that anytime a new project is being considered, the GIS team will get requests for GIS services. “I learn something new every day and it keeps me in the loop on what may be on the horizon for Basin Electric. I’ve said many times to coworkers that project work is my favorite. I like the fast pace of project work and the daily challenges it can present, and I enjoy collaborating with GIS team members who work in different departments of the cooperative.”

To learn more about the GIS team and the transmission buildout, read How we serve with the GIS team in the Winter 2023 issue of Basin Today.