Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
This large power station will be very close to the new intertie between ND and SK
While SaskPower is looking at rebuilding and rejuvenating its coal fleet, not far across the border, straight south of Estevan, Basin Electric is looking to build a massive natural gas-fired power station.
It will result in the largest power station that is closest to the expanded intertie between Saskatchewan and North Dakota, already under construction.
Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric) is set to build a new natural gas-fueled generation facility in Williams County, North Dakota, the cooperative said in press release on Jan. 23.
“The nearly US$4 billion project, called the Bison Generation Station to be constructed near the town of Epping, will produce approximately 1,470 megawatts (MW) of electricity, one of the largest electric generation projects in the cooperative’s history. Comprising two units of roughly 700 MW each, the facility will help meet electric load growth in the region that stems from industrial work, manufacturing, data processing, residential customers, and small businesses, including farms and ranches.”
Epping is 20 kilometres east of Williston’s northern corner, and 78 kilometres due south of the intertie switchyard currently under construction for SaskPower, southwest of the Boundary Dam Power Station. Since electrons are agnostic to what generates them, it means that whenever SaskPower buys power from the Southwest Power Pool, of which Basin Electric is a part of, there’s a very high probability a substantial amount of those electrons will come from this power station, as opposed to wind or solar projects.
The intertie is expected to be online in 2027.
The intertie is in the process of be expanded from 150 to 650 megawatts, at a cost of approximately $1 billion. Interties play a substantial role for grid operation, not just for the ability to buy and sell power, but for grid stability. This past fall, while Alberta’s interties to British Columbia and Montana were down for maintenance, their grid had several notable frequency variations. If the grid’s frequency goes out of whack, the whole grid can go down in a catastrophic blackout that can take days to weeks to restart. You can read more about it here.
“Building the Bison Generation facility represents the cooperative model at its best— prioritizing member needs through enhanced reliability, affordability, and community-focused benefits,” said Basin Electric CEO and General Manager Todd Brickhouse. “This investment strengthens our commitment to an all-of-the-above generation portfolio strategy, balancing diverse fuel types, generation methods, and locations to ensure resilience and flexibility.”
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“Economically, Bison Generation Station will create jobs, drive local development, and support the broader community. Strategically, it extends our proven approach of converting low-cost, regional natural resources into affordable electricity,” Brickhouse said.
Pending regulatory approval, site grading is expected to begin later this year, with foundation construction scheduled for 2026. At peak construction in 2027, the project is expected to employ approximately 1,000 workers. Once completed, the facility will provide approximately 50 full-time positions for operations, maintenance, and administration. Commercial operations are slated to begin in 2030.
The location is also in the very heart of the North Dakota Bakken, which has had an ongoing issue of trying to keep up with natural gas capture and conservation. There’s been so much flaring over the years that geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan routinely includes nighttime satellite photos showing the flaring lighting up the sky. The new power station will allow for local consumption of that gas, and should have a dramatic impact on flaring.
Here is Zeihan, in 2019, speaking about it (time indext 37:17):
And as the oilpatch is a major consumer of power, having such a large power station in the heart of the action all but eliminates line loss from long-distance power transmission. Line loss is the natural resistance inherit in all electrical conductors. The longer the line, the more the resistance, the less power makes it to the far end from the generating station.
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The new power station will be a combined-cycle power plant, similar in design to SaskPower’s brand new Great Plains Power Station at Moose Jaw. The differences will be it will have two units, not one, and each will be double the capacity compared to the 370 megawatt Great Plains facility.
Basin Electric describes its operation like this:
“A combined-cycle power plant is an efficient way to harness the energy in natural gas by employing both a combustion turbine and a steam turbine to produce electricity.
“Natural gas is burned to create energy that turns a combustion turbine, similar to a jet engine. The turbine is connected to a generator, producing electricity.
“Exhaust heat from the combustion turbine is captured by a heat recovery steam generator and used to make steam. The steam turns a turbine, which is also connected to a generator, producing electricity.”
Gavin McCollam, Basin Electric senior vice president and chief operating officer, said the future generation station will be unique because of its size, becoming the largest power plant solely owned by Basin Electric.
“It seems like a never-ending challenge to keep up with the load growth, and this plant will go a long way in meeting that demand,” he said. “Basin Electric has been increasing its renewable portfolio over the years, and this natural gas facility will fill in the gaps when wind and solar are not available.”
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