What’s the Story Behind the Switch?

It’s coming to a school near you.
The Story Behind the Switch is an educational demonstration showing how electricity is made and how to be safe around it.
Demonstration Coordinator Tracy Fugere gives a hair-raising, 45-minute presentation to students of all ages. The demonstration includes experiments with a Van de Graaf generator (also known as the static [...]

Last heavy lift at Dry Fork Station

You’re looking at the final heavy lift for the air quality control system building at Dry Fork Station near Gillette, Wyoming.
The scrubber top cap directs the flue gas from the scrubber into the baghouses (the bigger sections on each side of the top cap).
The scrubber being built at Dry Fork is a reflux circulating fluid [...]

Tweeting his way to fame

If you want to read these tweets, the library might be your best bet.
Chris VandeVenter, legislative representative at Basin Electric, was reminiscing about his childhood as an Air Force brat in a tweet responding to a challenge posed by a well-known writer. Little did he know, that individual would decide that particular tweet deserved immortality.
It [...]

An “Earth Eater” scoop

The Coteau Properties Company’s “Earth Eater” made its debut on local television.
Reporter Retha Colclasure from KFYR TV, the local NBC news affiliate, did a story on the bucket’s efficiency.
Click this link to watch the news story: Dragline gets new bucket
The Flip Side ran a post on the Earth Eater at the end of July: “Earth [...]

Welcoming Basin Electric’s new board member

Charlie Gilbert has been elected by the membership of Corn Belt Power Cooperative to be its representative on the Basin Electric board of directors. The vote was yesterday, Aug. 24.
Gilbert joins the rest of our board members, listed here.
Gilbert is a director for Midland Power Cooperative, headquartered in Jefferson, Iowa. Gilbert farms 1,000 acres of [...]

Wind turbines going up at Wilton Wind Energy Center

Timing was everything for our photographers when they went to Wilton Wind Energy Center last Tuesday.
The size of the wind project will double once construction is finished about 20 miles north of Bismarck, ND. The wind project currently has 33 turbines that began operating in 2006.
Photographer Steve Crane and videographer Greg Wheeler were planning to [...]

Having fun while the sun shines

It’s been an unusual summer in North Dakota. In Bismarck-Mandan, it hasn’t hit 100 degrees yet — and probably won’t at this point. Very disappointing for many here who endured a winter that lasted a strong six months.
August 12 was the high point of the summer, temperature-wise: 98 degrees. It was also the day about [...]

Photos of firsts at wind project construction

Randy Bush, Basin Electric’s distributed resource coordinator, has been snapping many photos of the construction progress on our wind projects near Minot, ND: Minot Wind 2 and PrairieWinds ND 1.
The photo above shows the view from the site of the first Minot Wind 2 turbine toward Minot Wind 1. The names of those turbines are [...]

How to make sure your house saves energy

The latest installment in our “Ask the Expert” video gallery is ready for viewing!
Last year, Basin Electric highlighted Sioux Valley Energy’s Project E2 in our publication, Basin Today (Sept-Oct 2008), and in our video gallery: Sioux Valley Energy’s Project E2 and Project E2 home finished; energy efficiency project continues
The E2 (E-squared) house was built by [...]

Questions about wind energy?

We’ve got a great resource for you.
Wind Facts — a page at www.basinelectric.com. You can find answers to many commonly asked questions there.

You’ll also find links to our Ask the Expert video gallery. There, Basin Electric Manager of Alternative Technologies Ron Rebenitsch will answers questions such as: How do power lines affect wind projects? and [...]