You could Shave the Day

Become a walking billboard for the fight against childhood cancer.

In two years, more than 300 volunteers have done just that by shaving their heads in solidarity of children with cancer for Basin Electric’s St. Baldrick’s Day. At the same time, they’ve raised more than $215,000 for childhood cancer research and fellowships.

With March 17 just a month and a half away, Basin Electric is gearing up for its 3rd annual St. Baldrick’s event.

Volunteers and shavees have already begun signing up to lose their locks. Anyone interested in getting involved – whether to shave, cut your hair or volunteer – please register at http://www.stbaldricks.org/events/BasinElectric.

Electric cooperative saving money on electricity

Last spring, a new air conditioner at Basin Electric headquarters powered up. In the time since, the energy and cost savings have begun to pile up.

Dan Job, Basin Electric building superintendent, estimates the electric bill for headquarters in December 2009 was a couple thousand dollars less than the bill in December 2008. “Despite a rate increase and a colder December in 2009 than we had in 2008, it’s safe to estimate a savings of $2,000-$2,500,” he says. The generator ran about the same amount of time during both years.

Basin Electric Headquarters: January 2010

“There are certain areas of this building (computer room, telephone rooms, etc.) we need to cool twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, regardless of how cold it is outside,” Job says. “A byproduct of cooling is warm water. We’re now able to take that warm water and heat the building.” The headquarters building is heated by hot water heat.

Prior to the new air conditioner, also known as a dedicated heat recovery chiller, a boiler would heat water and send it throughout the building. The old chiller would heat water in the process of cooling, but the water wasn’t hot enough to heat the building. So, the water temperature would get a boost by running through a boiler. “Even when the air temperature outside was 30 below zero a couple weeks ago, the heat from the chiller kept the building warm. It is our intent to never have to use the boiler again,” Job says. “We will keep the boiler for redundancy, in case something would happen to the chiller.

“Another thing to keep in mind is that right now, we’re cooling two computer rooms while we’re remodeling and moving equipment. So we’ll be cooling one less computer room come this spring,” Job says.

Job is using the hot water from the new chiller in other ways, too. In stairwells and entrances, old electric resistant heaters are being replaced with hot water heat.

“We’re always looking at ways to conserve. And especially when we need to replace equipment, there are better things out there than there was 20, 30 years ago. This is an ongoing effort.”

St. Baldrick’s is on ice

Forward George Malliaras and team mascot Scratch.

Basin Electric has a new partner this year when it comes to St. Baldrick’s fundraising. The Bismarck Bobcats, a North American Hockey League team in Bismarck, ND, has jumped on board.

So far, two players, forwards George Malliaras and Ryan Jacobson, assistant coach Layne Sedevie, and team owner Thom Brigl say they will shave their heads. But the future shavees say it won’t be tough to get more players raising money for children’s cancer research.

Bobcats assistant coach Layne Sedevie.

Malliaras is originally from the Chicago area and participated in St. Baldrick’s in high school. He says hair is pretty important to some of the players.

But assistant coach Sedevie says if the team doesn’t take care of its community and support efforts like St. Baldrick’s, they won’t be able to sustain community support in the stands.

The Bobcats will be holding a kick-off St. Baldrick’s event March 13. They plan to get their heads shaved on center ice during their game against the Owatonna Express.

Dakota Gas makes final major payment to U.S. Department of Energy

Dakota Gasification Company (Dakota Gas) has made a $7.1-million payment to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This is the last payment to be made under terms of a revenue-sharing agreement signed between Dakota Gas and DOE in 1988. The payment was made Jan. 22 based on 2009 revenues.

The revenue-sharing agreement was signed when Dakota Gas bought the Great Plains Synfuels Plant — a coal gasification plant located near Beulah, N.D. As part of the sale agreement, Dakota Gas agreed to share revenue from gas sales with the DOE through 2009.

Gary Loop, Dakota Gas’ chief operating officer, says this latest payment is the last one to be made as part of the revenue sharing agreement. He said the 20-year agreement expired in 2009, and no further payments will be made in future years.

The payment is the ninth payment under the terms of the revenue-sharing agreement. The total amount paid to DOE – as part of the revenue-sharing agreements – now grows to $388.8 million since the sale of the plant to Basin Electric.

Find more detail at this link: Dakota Gas pays $7.1 million to DOE

A bird’s eye view of destruction in FEM Electric’s territory

Mark and Sherry Perrion got some amazing pictures when they decided to take a Friday flight on January 29.

As Mark was flying, Sherry was taking photos. The couple are FEM Electric consumers.

The Antelope Valley Station-to-Broadland line on Friday, January 29.

When they got near the towers, Sherry told Mark to tip the wing so she could get a couple good shots.

The photos show Basin Electric Transmission System Maintenance crews working near Bowdle, South Dakota, on the 345-kilovolt Antelope Valley Station-to-Broadland line that was damaged in the late January ice storm.

The Antelope Valley Station-to-Broadland line on Friday, January 29.

Stephanie Reis, operations/member service assistant for FEM Electric, says they’re hoping to have the power back for all residential meters by Friday, February 5.

Reis says at the height of the outages, there were 1,710 consumers without power and 3,000 power poles down.

317 people from 28 different groups were helping the FEM Electric crews so they could repair lines. Members of the South Dakota National Guard, other co-op crews, construction crews, and Sioux Falls and Brookings city crews helped move snow, pull vehicles that were stuck in the snow, and build crossarms for transmission towers.

Some of the crews came from Colorado, Oklahoma and Missouri. “The crews from down south had never worked in an ice storm before,” Reis says. “But you know, they stuck it out. It was a challenge for them, and they wanted to meet it.”

The Antelope Valley Station-to-Broadland line on Friday, January 29.

Reis says their member-consumers helped keep the crews fueled up. They baked cookies and bars, brought breakfast, fruit and soda to FEM Electric’s office. “We basically had a convenience store set up here,” Reis says with a chuckle.

Turning wrenches on cold steel in frigid temperatures

They’ve come from six outposts in four states, braving extreme weather to repair a major transmission line.

(From left): Jay Ritter, journeyman lineman from the Gettysburg, SD, TSM outpost; Brian Fast, journeyman lineman from the Groton, SD, TSM outpost; and Craig Hunnel, lead lineman from the Gettysburg, SD, TSM outpost.

About 24 linemen and mechanic-operators from Basin Electric’s Transmission System Maintenance (TSM) division outposts are working near Bowdle, SD, to repair the Antelope Valley Station-to-Broadland line. It was damaged in an ice storm. And it’s one of the big ones: a 345-kilovolt transmission line.

TSM's new Grove crane must be fully extended to lift the arm of the tower in place.

Crews started working January 25, but were held up by near-blizzard conditions.

They arrived in South Dakota on January 26 to begin repairs, and they worked through the weekend. We met up with them on Friday, January 29. Wind chills were -24 degrees; the high temperature that day was predicted to be -5 degrees.

Bryan Keller, manager of TSM, says critical structural repairs could be completed by Saturday, February 6. That means the line could be returned to service, but an additional seven-day outage would need to be scheduled for a later time to repair the overhead ground wire and additional damaged structural steel.

On the AVS-to-Broadland 345-kV line near Bowdle, South Dakota.

In the video below, Clay Feist, lead lineman from the Mandan TSM shop, talks about what it takes to work safely in extremely cold conditions, why it’s so important these crews work as a team, and why working on these big towers is particularly tricky.

More on the Ice Storm of 2010:

Verendrye Electric photos show harsh working conditions: Jan. 28, 2010

In the news: Lineworkers, co-ops working to get the lights on: Jan. 26, 2010

Ice and wind take a toll on Basin Electric transmission lines: Jan. 25, 2010

Touchstone Energy Web campaign helps save millions

It started August 27, 2009. Since then, the Together We Save campaign has shown consumers how to save more than $7.3 million on their energy bills.

Television ads for the campaign are running nation-wide through Feb. 20. The ads encourage consumers to adequately insulate their attics, conserve energy at their businesses, properly set their thermostats, and do the small things to save energy, like flip off the light switch.

The ads direct consumers to www.togetherwesave.com, where they can calculate how much money they can save on their energy bills by making efficient choices in their homes and businesses. The site uses electric rates from consumers’ local electric cooperatives when they enter their zip codes.

Dennis Gad, Basin Electric member media coordinator, says the Web site adds up each visitor’s savings calculations and applies it to a cumulative total. “The point of the calculator is to illustrate that if we all do our part, it adds up to big money and energy savings nationally. We’ve been averaging about $700,000 in savings potential per week since the ‘Together We Save’ site went live in August.”

Frigid temps contribute to new all-time billing peak

In December, Dawn Hauck, Basin Electric near-term load forecasting and scheduling coordinator, had reported the cooperative’s membership likely reached a new all-time billing peak. (Read that story here: People need power to stay warm)

January 5, 2010

With billing complete, it’s confirmed. Sharon Lipetzky, Basin Electric revenue analyst, says the new peak surpassed the previous billing peak by about 250 megawatts. The previous all-time billing peak set in December 2008 was 2,420 megawatts. The new peak is now 2,671 megawatts.

Lipetzky says there are multiple reasons for the new peak: frigid temperatures, the members needing more electricity, the addition of new members and the new power sale obligations to Corn Belt Power Cooperative, which began in September.

Verendrye Electric photos show harsh working conditions

We received photos taken by Tom Rafferty, Verendrye Electric’s community relations manager.

Verendrye Electric's bucket truck got stuck in the snow Monday.

The truck was stuck 20 miles south of Minot, North Dakota. A local farmer helped pull the truck from the snow-filled ditch.

Jeff Krueger helped pull the bucket truck out with his tractor. A local news crew captured the moment.

In Verendrye Electric’s service territory, there were four poles down and 800 members affected during the storm. Power was back on for all members by 3:10 p.m. Monday.

Jim Hagen, Velva-area lineman for Verendrye Electric.

“Our linemen did an excellent job through very difficult conditions to restore power to members as quickly as possible,” says Rafferty. “The weather conditions proved to be especially difficult because the wind and blowing snow made it hard for them to see what they were doing.”

Verendrye Electric has these photos and more from the storm on their Web site: Verendrye Electric Cooperative

Local television news crews produced stories on the linemen’s tough day at work on Monday.

Rick Erickson, Velva-area foreman for Verendrye Electric.

Local news stories:
KXMC CBS 11: Struggling with power lines

KMOT TV (NBC): Workers battle windy conditions

Minot Daily News: Winter weather continues

A crew from Basin Electric’s communications department is planning to head to Bowdle, SD, tomorrow to get a look at the damage to the AVS-to-Broadland line. We hope to have more here on The Flip Side next week.

More ice storm coverage on The Flip Side:

In the news: Lineworkers, co-ops working to get the lights on 1-26-2010

Ice and wind take a toll on Basin Electric transmission lines 1-25-2010

Recognition for a safe year at Dry Fork Station

On Wednesday, January 20th, Dry Fork Station Project Manager Clyde Bush congratulated and presented each Dry Fork Station contractor that did not have a recordable incident during the calendar year 2009 with a letter of congratulation (signed by Ron Harper, Basin Electric CEO and general manager) and a framed certificate. An OSHA recordable incident is an incident that requires medical treatment beyond first aid.

(Left to right) Clyde Bush, Basin Electric Power Cooperative; Doug Gelling, Sargent and Lundy; Ron Harvey, Pullman Power LLC; Ron Campbell, Westcon Industries; Josh Wofford, Hettinger LLC; Jason Grams, AZCO; Jason Gillespie, CE and MT; Mike Taylor, Viking; Felix Silva, Vision Mechanical; Al Langston, Triad; Kenny Marshall, Great Southwestern (not pictured).