Regulators approve two ND wind projects

North Dakota regulators have approved the construction of two new wind projects capable of generating almost 300 megawatts of power.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative wants to build a 115-megawatt wind farm about 12 miles south of Minot. Rough Rider Wind LLC has plans for wind turbines to generate 175 megawatts in Dickey County, about 15 miles northwest of Ellendale.

North Dakota’s Public Service Commission voted recently to give the go-ahead to both projects. Commissioner Tony Clark says there were no objections about the placement of specific wind towers.

Commission Chairman Kevin Cramer says at year’s end, North Dakota should have close to 1,000 megawatts of wind power generation capacity. Cramer says at the start of the decade, the state had no wind projects.

Brigham shares jump 10 percent Brigham Exploration Co. stock jumped more than 10 percent Aug. 11 after an analyst said the company’s petroleum inventory could be significantly greater than expected because of new assessments of the company’s wells in North Dakota.

In a research note, Thomas Weisel Partners doubled its estimate for Brigham’s net asset value to $15 per share. It also upgraded its rating of Brigham’s shares to “Overweight” from “Market Weight.”

Brigham’s exploration and development operations are in the Rocky Mountains, on the Gulf Coast, Anadarko Basin and in west Texas. The company says it has 284 wells producing 140.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent.

Basin re-evaluating coal plant time frame

Basin Electric Power Cooperative is re-evaluating plans for a $2 billion coal-fired power plant in northeastern South Dakota — a move that comes as no surprise to South Dakota Public Utilities Commission Chairman Dusty Johnson.

In a statement on its Web site, the North Dakota-based utility says uncertainty over the Selby-area project’s economic feasibility, regulatory issues and the availability of carbon-capture technologies means the project needs to be reassessed.

Because of such issues, there likely won’t be many coal-fired plants coming online in the U.S., Johnson said recently. Basin Electric has said the project won’t be finished until after 2014. The Selby site was selected last year.

On July 28, Basin Electric filed an application with the utilities commission for a big plant near Brookings that will use natural gas and steam rather than coal to produce electricity.

“They have filed a rather lengthy application with us,” Johnson said of Basin Electric’s Deer Creek project in Brookings County.

“That is going to be a pretty big natural gas-fired power plant,” well-positioned to serve South Dakota and Minnesota, Johnson said. Basin also says that, at an estimated cost of $405 million, it would be cheaper to build than the Selby plant.

Spiritwood power plant crew being boosted

The number of construction workers building a $276 million coal-fi red power plant near Spiritwood is being boosted.

Dennis Pozarnsky, construction site manager for Great River Energy, says the crew of 500 will be increased to 620 during the second half of August.

Pozarnsky says the construction crew is trying to catch up after the harsh winter and spring. He says adding manpower will enable workers to finish exterior work before the coming winter. If that happens, the number of workers will be reduced at the end of October.

N.D. transmission lines head into oil fields

Demand for power in the oil fields of Mountrail and Williams counties in North Dakota has resulted in a large electrical substation near Belden, with 39 miles of new transmission line installed from Tioga to Belden. Another line, from Belden to Stanley, will be completed by the middle of September.

Mountrail-Williams Electric Co-op has added 85 linemen to its crews

Wooden poles were used because metal poles are fi ve times as expensive, and costs have become a big issue.

“The oil field has had a very, very good impact. It’s been a favorable impact,” said Dale Haugen, Mountrail-Williams general manager and engineer.

“Our old infrastructure would have had to be replaced in the very near future and our customers would have had to pay, just the remaining customers.”

Without the involvement of the oil industry “the rates would have really went up,” he said. (Energy briefs compiled from stories by The Associated Press.)