Basin Electric planning carbon solutions
The Trump administration may have rescinded the Clean Power Plan, with its federal carbon dioxide emissions standards, but Basin Electric Power Cooperative isn’t taking any chances.
As part of the cooperative’s annual membership meeting in Bismarck this week, member owners will participate in a Strategic Direction Meeting with two goals in mind: help shape a federal carbon emissions reduction plan that is friendly to coal and come up with a way to compete with renewables in the cooperative’s new marketplace.
Basin Electric CEO Paul Sukut said he has had the chance to meet with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on three occasions. He and other power producers have told the agency the same thing. He says Basin and major producers, such as Duke Energy and Xcel Energy, agree repealing CPP is not enough. A new plan must be made — one that will be possible for coal to meet.
In the meantime, Sukut said it is also important that his organization help demonstrate that Basin’s carbon footprint can be reduced.
Basin Electric is a two-year member of the Southwest Power Pool regional transmission organization, a membership that allows the cooperative to sell excess energy produced into the market and buy when there are production shortages.
On that market, there are 790 generating units, according to SPP CEO Nick Brown. Of those, natural gas makes up 40.8 percent of capacity, coal makes up 31 percent and wind makes up just under 20 percent.
