Great River Energy to pursue building its own peaking generation

Elk River, Minn. (July 9, 2004)
After careful consideration, Great River Energy has decided to pursue building its own peaking power plant to meet the 2007 generation resource need identified in its “Request for Proposals” issued in early March.

Great River Energy received 31 proposals from 17 entities under the Peaking/Intermediate portion of the RFP. The proposals were evaluated on their:

After further clarification of the remaining proposals, Great River Energy concluded the best choice for its members is the self-build option. Compared to the proposed projects, the cooperative found it can site, build and operate the power plant for a lower cost than any of the submitted proposals.

The location of the 150 megawatt peaking plant has not been selected. However, Great River Energy is considering several potential sites in Minnesota. Over the next several months Great River Energy will continue its assessment of the sites. By this fall, staff will recommend a preferred site to the Board of Directors for its approval. Permitting and other processes would begin after approval of the project by Great River Energy’s members later this fall. The power plant will be available for commercial operation by the summer of 2007.

The “Request for Proposals” also asked for renewable and baseload generation proposals. Great River Energy will have a “short list” of potential developers for the renewable portion within the next four weeks.

Great River Energy, a generation and transmission cooperative, provides energy and related services to 28 member cooperatives in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It is the second largest utility in Minnesota serving more than 580,000 customers or 1.4 million people. It is the fastest growing utility in the Upper Midwest.