Basin Electric Power Cooperative is aiming for “first fire” on April 17 at its new 230-MW Deer Creek gas-fired power plant in South Dakota, Basin said in a March 30 statement.
Construction began at the station in 2010 and the plant is due to be operational by this summer. The list of major events scheduled at Deer Creek includes:
- April 17: Initial firing of the combustion turbine, called “first fire.”
- April 18: The first time the combustion-turbine generator is connected to the transmission grid.
- May 26: The first time steam is used in the steam turbine.
- May 27: The first time the steam turbine-generator is connected to the transmission grid.
- June 5: Operational date.
These dates may be altered depending on how other start-up activities proceed, Basin Electric noted.
Deer Creek is a 300-MW (net) natural gas combined-cycle generation facility located near Elkton in Brookings County. The plant will use natural gas delivered via the Northern Border Pipeline and a new 14-mile underground pipeline to the plant. The gas will be purchased from Dakota Gasification Co. Deer Creek will be connected to the electric grid by constructing less than one mile of new 345-kV transmission line. The plant features two turbine-generator sets: one turbine fired by natural gas; the other is driven by steam. Both of the turbines are connected to generators.
Basin Electric is a consumer-owned, regional cooperative headquartered in Bismarck, N.D. It generates and transmits electricity to 134 member rural electric systems in nine states: Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. These member systems distribute electricity to about 2.8 million consumers.
