Basin Electric's Distributed Generation provides key dispatchable value

Basin Electric has found the best solution to meet members’ power supply needs is through an all-of-the-above energy strategy using dispatchable and non-dispatchable resources. As Basin Electric’s membership continues to grow, one resource is proving it’s a critical piece of the cooperative’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, and that is natural gas generation.

As electricity needs are ever-growing and market volatility is increasing, dispatchable natural gas-fueled facilities have become more and more valuable. Natural gas generation has a unique ability to swiftly respond to changing load demands, serve as both peaking and intermediate generation, and complement renewable energy sources.

Joe Fiedler, Basin Electric manager of Distributed Generation, describes how the cooperative’s natural gas-fueled units keep electricity reliable. “Most of the units in distributed generation are fast-start units. The jet engines have a 10-minute start up, and the reciprocating engines also have a 10-minute start up. These units are used for variable load. They’re dispatched and started quickly, and then they follow the load that’s needed for generation. They’ll follow the wind; they’ll follow the times of day when demand is higher, or demand is less,” he says. “So not only are they quick dispatch, but they’re also used for regulation during the day to take care of the grid needs more readily than what some of the baseload units can.”

Basin Electric’s seven natural gas-fueled resources are spread throughout Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Culbertson Generation Station, Lonesome Creek Station, and Pioneer Generation Station in northwest North Dakota and eastern Montana have been running more frequently recently to keep electricity reliable in the growing Bakken region of western North Dakota. The facilities are critical for alleviating congestion issues in the region.

Valerie Weigel, Basin Electric vice president of Energy Markets, explains why it’s important the units are ready to run. “We’ve progressively entered periods of heightened awareness (advisories, conservative operations, etc.) sooner each of the preceding five years, whether it’s from load growth on the system, units on outage for maintenance, weather related events, or increased congestion from the scaling of variable energy resources. That means our natural gas and peaking units are seeing increased run time and are even more critical. Grid conditions aside, we are seeing increased run hours on natural gas and peaking units. This highlights the importance of maintenance as it impacts our ability to utilize the units. Joe Fiedler and his staff do a great job ensuring our units are available when they’re called upon. Even when they’re not called upon, unit availability is relevant, and they’ve done a fantastic job ensuring the units are available,” she says.

Read more about this valuable resource in Distributed Generation’s Critical Role in Maintaining Reliable Electricity in the 2024 Spring/Summer issue of Basin Today.