Stay Basin! Advancement opportunities, collaborating with others, and improving processes

Basin Electric appreciates its employees and works hard to retain its workforce. The cooperative understands employees, with their combined knowledge, insight, and hard work, are the ones who make the difference. 

Bobby Nasset, Basin Electric civil engineering supervisor, has worked for the cooperative for seven years. His experience in the engineering field spans both energy and water industries, and he has worked with several electric utilities and municipalities. 

Nasset applied for his position at Basin Electric because he really likes working for utilities and the larger scale of electric infrastructure. He was also attracted to the career growth opportunities available at Basin Electric. 

The civil engineering team supports Basin Electric’s existing generation and transmission facilities as well as new construction. “Each of our power plants are like small cities, requiring maintenance and upgrades to roads, rail, water, sewer, stormwater management, and other waste management such as ash landfills,” Nasset says. “Currently, Basin Electric has a large high-voltage transmission buildout in North Dakota. We are working closely with our right-of-way and permitting group on transmission line routing and design.” The team also supports new and existing substation design and construction.  

Nasset says the best part of his job is collaborating with his coworkers and finding new ways to improve processes. Transmission projects require significant coordination with external consultants for obtaining and tracking survey permissions from landowners, and letting the biological, archaeological, and geotechnical survey consultants know. “The project GIS team continues to innovate and find ways to dynamically update data so our field consultants can easily find the latest status and we can track project progress,” Nasset says. “Using their input to continuously update the design helps save time on the iterations with landowners for determining the final route. We are also having success using it for coordination with other external utility crossings.” Nasset and his team continue to refine this process and find new ways to improve it as the technology improves.

When Nasset has free time, he enjoys traveling with his family, although most of his traveling time consists of following his kids in youth sports. He also loves to garden but likes the planning and planting phase more than the maintenance phase.

“I recommend Basin Electric to family and friends,” Nasset says. “Basin Electric has provided a great opportunity for me to learn and collaborate to solve problems while still providing a good work-life balance.”