About Great River Energy

Great River Energy moved to its new headquarters building in Maple Grove, Minn., in April 2008. More information about the facility is available in our media kit.

General

Member cooperatives: 28
Employees: More than 875
Headquarters:
12300 Elm Creek Boulevard
Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369-4718
Phone: 763/445-5000
Fax: 763/445-5050

 

Financial Highlights (for 2008)

Revenue: $829.9 million
Total assets: $2.8 billion
Electric plant investment (net): $2.1 billion
Long-term debt: $2.1 billion
Great River Energy share of taxes paid:
Personal property and real estate: $13.3 million
Generation tax (North Dakota): $6.8 million
Coal severance tax (North Dakota): $3.7 million
Payroll, sales and other taxes: $15.6 million
Total taxes paid $39.4 million

Total 2008 Sales
14,993,691 megawatt-hours
(12,166,063 megawatt-hours sold to members)

Generation Capability

 

Coal Creek Station, Underwood, N.D.

1,129 MW

Lakefield Junction Station, Martin County, Minn.

488 MW

Pleasant Valley Station, Mower County, Minn.

412 MW

Stanton Station, Stanton, N.D.

190 MW

Cambridge Station, Cambridge, Minn.

177 MW

Elk River Peaking Station, Elk River, Minn.

175 MW (online July 2009)

Genoa 3, near LaCrosse, Wis.

170 MW

St. Bonifacius Peaking Plant, St. Bonifacius, Minn.

56 MW

Elk River Station, Elk River, Minn.

36 MW

Rock Lake Peaking Plant, Pine City, Minn.

21 MW

Maple Lake Peaking Plant, Maple Lake, Minn.

19 MW

Arrowhead Emergency Generation Station, Colvill, Minn.

18 MW

Trimont Wind Purchase, Southwestern Minn.

100 MW (nameplate)

Elm Creek Wind Purchase, Southwestern Minn.

100 MW (nameplate)

Prairie Star Wind Purchase, Southeastern Minn.

100 MW (nameplate)

Wind Energy Purchases, Southern Minn.

18 MW (nameplate)

*Excludes power purchases totaling 92 MW (summer rating) from the Western Area Power Administration and other power purchases.

Transmission Assets

 

Voltage

Mileage

69 kV or less

2,961

115 kV

384

161 kV

46

230 kV

523

345 kV

75

500 kV

70

Total AC transmission

4,059

±400 kV DC

436

Total transmission line

4,495

Total transmission substations
(owned or partially owned by Great River Energy)

105

HVDC Line
The ±400-kV High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission system
delivers electricity from Coal Creek Station in central North Dakota to
the Dickinson converter terminal near Delano, Minn.
Availability:
Since its commissioning in the late 1970s, the availability of the HVDC
system has been better than 99 percent. The system has been one of
the most reliable HVDC systems in the world.

Load Management

 

Load Type

No. Controllable

Space heating

73,396

Water heating

103,631

Air conditioning & heat pumps

139,977

Ground-source heat pump

2,644

Irrigation

2,780

Curtailable commercial and industrial

1,276

Maximum load management summer control capability:

360 MW

Maximum load management winter control capability:

320 MW

Member Co-op Summary

Number of member/consumers: 638,945
Sales to members: 12,166,063 kilowatt hours
Total distribution line: 86,410 miles
Average density: 7.4 consumers/mile
Distribution substations: 517
Combined annual revenue: $1.1 billion
Electric plant in service (net): $1.6 billion
Average kWh per consumer: 19,113/year
Distribution employees: 1,717

Systemwide load characteristics:*

Residential: 57.3%
Seasonal: 2.2%
Commercial and industrial: 40.5%
*Based on energy sales

More about Baseload Generation

Coal Creek Station

Location: Underwood, N.D.
Generating capability: 1,129 MW
Start of operation: Unit 1-1979; Unit 2-1980
Plant site: 3,370 acres
Lignite consumption: Up to 950 tons per hour;
7.5 million tons per year
Water source: Missouri River
Water consumption: Up to 14,300 gallons
per minute; 15,000 acre/ft. per year maximum
Steam generators (boilers): Produce 3.7 million
pounds of steam per hour.
Furnace size: 96’ x 43’ x 205’
Height of steam generator building: 295 feet
Chimney height: 650 feet
Turbine/generators: General Electric tandem
compound reheat turbines with double-flow
low-pressure sections; 18 stages; 3,600 rpm.
Generator is 22,000 volts. Stator and rotor weigh 500 tons.
Cooling towers: Three cooling towers, each 42 feet high and
225 feet in diameter, equipped with eight fans with 28-foot diameter.
Electrostatic precipitators: Remove more than 99.5 percent of fly ash.
Flue gas desulphurization (scrubbers): Wet lime countercurrent spray
towers remove 90 percent of SO2 from 60 percent of the gas.
Architect/Engineer: Black & Veatch

Stanton Station

Location: Stanton, N.D.
Generating capability: 190 MW
Start of operation: Unit 1 - 1966; Unit 10 - 1982
Plant site: 250 acres
Powder River coal consumption: 2,500 tons per day
Number of boilers: 2
Number of turbine generators: 1
Chimney height: 255 feet
Transmission voltage (AC): 230,000

Elk River Station

Location: Elk River, Minn.
Generating capability: 36 MW
Initial operation: 1951 with retrofit in 1989.
Fuel used: Since construction in the early 1950s,
Elk River Station has used several fuels, including
coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear energy, tire chips and
wood chips. It currently burns refuse-derived fuel
(RDF), a renewable fuel.
RDF consumption: 1,000 tons per day.
Landfill waste reduced: 300,000 tons per year.
CO2 emissions avoided: 140,000 tons per year.
Electrical production: 170,000 MWh per year.

More about Peaking Facilities

Lakefield Junction Station

Location: Martin County, Minn.
Generating capability: 488 MW (summer)
Fuel source: Natural gas; backup, fuel oil
Turbine generators: Six combustion turbines
manufactured by General Electric (6xMS7001EA)
Start of operation: 2001
Project site: 150 acres

Pleasant Valley Station

Location: Mower County, Minn.
Generating capability: 412 MW (summer)
Fuel source: Natural gas; backup, fuel oil
Turbine generators: Three combustion turbines
manufactured by Siemens Westinghouse (2xV84.3A2, 1x501D5A)
Start of Operation: Units 11 and 12 - 2001; Unit 13 - 2002
Project site: 160 acres

Cambridge Station

Location: Cambridge, Minn.
Generating capability: Unit 1: 21 MW (summer);
Unit 2: 154 MW (summer), began operations in May 2007
Fuel source: Fuel oil (Unit 1), and natural gas (Unit 2)
Turbine generators: Two combustion turbines, Unit 1
manufactured by GE (MS5001) and Unit 2 manufactured
by Siemens (SGT6-4000F)
Project site: 23 acres

St. Bonifacius Station

Location: St. Bonifacius, Minn.
Generating capability: 56 MW (summer)
Fuel source: Fuel oil
Turbine generator: Two aero-derivative combustion turbines
manufactured by Pratt & Whitney coupled to a single generator

Rock Lake Station

Location: Pine City, Minn.
Generating capability: 21 MW (summer)
Fuel source: Fuel oil
Turbine Generator: One combustion turbine
manufactured by GE (MS5001)

Maple Lake Station

Location: Maple Lake, Minn.
Generating capability: 19 MW (summer)
Fuel source: Fuel oil
Turbine generator: One combustion turbine
manufactured by GE (MS5001)

Arrowhead Emergency Generation Station

Location: Cook County, Minn.
Generating capability: 18 MW
Fuel source: Fuel oil
Engines: Nine 2-MW Cummins emergency diesel generators
Start of operation: May 2009
Project site: 20 acres

Wind Energy

Trimont Wind

Location: Southwestern Minn.
Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)
Turbine: 67 General Electric (GE Wind) 1.5 megawatt wind turbines

Elm Creek Wind

Location: Southwestern Minn.
Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)
Turbine: 66 General Electric (GE Wind) 1.5 megawatt wind turbines

Prarie Star Wind

Location: Southeastern Minn.
Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)
Turbine: 61 Vestas 1.65-MW wind turbines

Other wind energy purchases: 18 MW (nameplate) from three Minnesota wind farms.
Location: Jackson, Dodge and Murray counties.

Wellspring® Wind Energy Program

Program guidelines: Wellspring Wind Energy is sold to co-op members who
voluntarily choose the amount of renewable energy they want
to buy. Wellspring subscribers help to bring additional renewable
energy resources online.
Participants: 6,684 co-op members.
Future Plans
: Great River Energy will begin receiving energy from Elm Creek Wind Farm, a 100-MW wind project in Southwestern Minn., in early 2009.

Blue Flint Ethanol

A joint venture between Great River Energy and Headwaters Incorporated.
Location: Underwood, N.D.
Production capability: 58 million-gallon per year dry mill ethanol plant
Start of operation: February 2007
Heat source: Coal Creek Station
Corn consumption: 20 million bushels per year