Hoeven leads groundbreaking for Spiritwood industrial park

SPIRITWOOD, N.D. – North Dakota Governor John Hoeven today led the groundbreaking ceremony for Spiritwood Station, the first combined heat and power plant to be built in North Dakota. The facility is part of Spiritwood industrial park, a new $500 million industrial complex in Jamestown, which will include a 100 million gallon ethanol plant; an expanded Cargill malt processing plant; and a 99 megawatt coal-fired steam generating plant using the latest technology to power the enterprise.

Construction of Spirit Station will cost $276 million, and is scheduled to go online by the first quarter of 2010. It will provide:
•Heat – 555,000 pounds of steam per hour to Cargill Malt and the Newman Group’s 100-million gallon-per-year ethanol plant; and
•Power – 62 megawatts of base-load electricity to Great River Energy’s customers in Minnesota & 37 megawatts of peaking electricity for sale to the regional energy market.

“The Spiritwood Industrial Park is a good example of how we are developing North Dakota’s energy resources in partnership with other industries – doing new things in new ways,” Hoeven said. “At Spiritwood, ethanol, lignite, value-added ag processing, farming and ranching are working together to create jobs and fresh opportunities for North Dakotans.”

“We are excited about this new plant which will provide competitively priced electricity to our customers and a local source and competitively priced energy for the local agricultural processing facilities. The synergies of working together will provide a ‘win-win’ situation for everyone involved,” said Greg Ridderbusch, vice president, business development and strategy, Great River Energy.

“Breaking ground on this plant is the critical first step toward making the Spiritwood industrial park a reality,” said Doug Eden, president of Cargill Malt. “This unique collaboration among Great River Energy, Spirit Ethanol and Cargill promises much greater benefits to the region than any of the individual entities could achieve on its own. We’re grateful to Governor Hoeven for the role he played in bringing us together and we eagerly anticipate the plant coming online in 2010.”

As the newest power plant in North Dakota in 25 years, Spiritwood Station will utilize best available control technologies, making it one of the cleanest coal-based power plants in the world. The power plant will use refined lignite from Great American Energy – processed utilizing innovative coal drying technology from Great River Energy’s Coal Creek Station. The primary water source for Spiritwood Station will be wastewater from Cargill Malt.

When operating, Spiritwood Station will have a significant impact on the local economy through the creation of 42 operating jobs (25 at the power plant and 18 for transportation of the beneficiated lignite from Underwood, N.D., to Spiritwood, N.D.). The plant will also generate about 480 construction jobs.

Great River Energy announced that Dennis Pozarnsky has been selected as construction site manager for Spiritwood Station. He will become plant manager when construction is finalized in 2010. Dennis has over 30 years' experience in the power industry, including the design, construction, startup and operation of coal, nuclear, and refuse-derived fuel power plants. Dennis – a licensed professional engineer – most recently served as maintenance supervisor at Great River Energy’s Elk River Station.

The Governor’s office helped forge the alliance, which includes the Newman Group, Great River Energy and Cargill. The effort produced a unique agreement that brings together a long-time North Dakota entrepreneur, one of the largest agriculture companies in the world and a leading utility company. The plans call for Great River Energy’s Spiritwood Station, the power plant, to provide electricity to the grid and steam for both the planned ethanol facility and Cargill Malt’s expanded facility. In addition, the ethanol facility would use waste water from the barley malting plant and produce cattle feed as a byproduct of the ethanol manufacturing process. The plants will together use new technology in an environmentally sound, energy efficient way.

Great River Energy is a not-for-profit wholesale electric cooperative, serving 28 distribution cooperatives in Minnesota and covering 60 percent of the state, geographically. It is the second largest power supplier in Minnesota.

Great River Energy owns and operates two power plants in North Dakota: Stanton Station, located near Stanton, N.D., and operational since 1966, and Coal Creek Station, located near Underwood, N.D., and operational since 1979.