Basin Electric has been recognized with the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy Wind Power America Program Special Achievement Award.
It’s a mouthful, but it’s a big honor.
The award is being handed out as part of the DOE‘s annual Wind Cooperative of the Year award. Basin Electric, along with eight other public power utilities from across the United States, were nominated for the award. A panel of wind, utility, government and electric cooperative experts made their selection January 7.
The 2009 Wind Cooperative of the Year went to Kodiak Electric Association of Alaska for their “leadership, innovation, project creativity, and benefits to their customers resulting from the state’s first utility scale wind project.” Big congratulations to Kodiak Electric from Basin Electric!
Basin Electric is being honored with the Special Achievement Award for “outstanding leadership with wind power and significant contributions to the wind power industry.”
Basin Electric just recently made history in wind. PrairieWinds 1, the nation’s largest wind project owned solely by a cooperative, located near Minot, ND, went into operation in the remaining hours of 2009.
Basin Electric’s ongoing commitment to wind energy in the region:
PrairieWinds SD 1, another Basin Electric subsidiary, continues planning and permitting for a 151.5-megawatt wind project in central South Dakota. Construction of the 101 wind turbines is scheduled to begin in mid 2010 and have it online by early 2011.
Basin Electric and NextEra Energy Resources signed an agreement Sept. 9 to develop another wind project located in Day County near Groton, S.D. The 99-megawatt capacity project will feature 66, 1.5-megawatt wind turbines. It’s anticipated the project will be ready for commercial operation by May 2010. For the first three years of commercial operation, Basin Electric has agreed to sell the output of the Day County project to the Western Area Power Administration.
Western is also purchasing the output of the first phase of the Wilton Wind Energy Center – 49.5 megawatts – from Basin Electric in a short-term contract from Jan. 1, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2012.
Late in 2008, NextEra Energy announced the expansion of its Wilton Wind Energy Center from 49.5 megawatts to 99 megawatts. Construction crews started work to install the 33, 1.5-megawatt turbines on June 26, 2009; the project was declared commercial on Oct. 31, 2009. Basin Electric has a long-term contract with NextEra to purchase the generation output from both phases of the Wilton Wind Energy Center
Way to go Basin!