Grandpa and grandson learn about being a Basin Electric lineworker

When you’re deciding on what you want to do for the rest of your life, going to take a look-see is a pretty good idea.

That was what Tysen Kraft was thinking when he asked his grandpa, Roger Lawien, if he would like to get together for a tour of Basin Electric. Lawien is the member services director for Moreau-Grand Electric Cooperative, a Basin Electric Class C cooperative headquartered in Timber Lake, SD.

Kraft is looking into becoming a lineworker, and toured Bismarck State College the same day.

Tysen Kraft and Roger Lawien, grandson and grandpa, tour Basin Electric Headquarters after a tour of Bismarck State College.

At Basin Electric, the pair received a building-wide tour from Erin Huntimer, Basin Electric project coordinations representative. She had them stop at Security and Response Services dispatch area, where they learned about how the lineworkers and outages are tracked from Tom Radenz, supervisor there. Then, they went to the trading floor and distributed generation area, where they learned how the wind turbines and peaking plants are controlled remotely from Melissa Wittenberg, supervisor for distributed generation dispatch.

Watch the video to hear from Kraft and Lawien on what they learned at Basin Electric.