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About Great River Energy

Great River Energy is a not-for-profit electric cooperative owned by its 28 member cooperatives. We generate and transmit electricity for those members, located in the outer-ring suburbs of the Twin Cities up to the Arrowhead region of Minnesota and down to the farmland region in the southwestern portion of the state.

General

Member cooperatives: 28

Employees: More than 850

Headquarters:

12300 Elm Creek Boulevard

Maple Grove, Minnesota 55369-4718

Phone: 763/445-5000

Fax: 763/445-5050

Financial Highlights (for 2010)

Revenue: $847.2 million

Total assets: $3.3 billion

Electric plant investment (net): $2.6 billion

Long-term debt: $2.7 billion

Great River Energy share of taxes paid:

Personal property and real estate: $19.7 million

Generation tax (North Dakota): $2.0 million

Coal severance tax (North Dakota): $4.5 million

Payroll, sales and other taxes: $15.5 million

Total taxes paid $41.7 million

Total 2010 Sales

14,292,742 megawatt-hours (MWh)

(11,754,808 megawatt-hours sold to members)

Generation Capability*
Summer Plant Capability**
Megawatt(MW)

Coal Creek Station, Underwood, N.D.

1,131 MW

Lakefield Junction Station, Martin County, Minn.

500 MW

Pleasant Valley Station, Mower County, Minn.

422 MW

Stanton Station, Stanton, N.D.

188 MW

Elk River Peaking Station, Elk River, Minn.

183 MW

Cambridge Station, Cambridge, Minn.

177 MW

Genoa 3, near LaCrosse, Wis.***

143 MW

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

59 MW

Elk River Energy Recovery Station, Elk River, Minn.

33 MW

Rock Lake Peaking Plant, Pine City, Minn.

20 MW

Maple Lake Peaking Plant, Maple Lake, Minn.

19 MW

Arrowhead Emergency Generation Station, Colvill, Minn.

18 MW

Elm Creek Wind Purchase, Southwestern Minn.

99 MW (nameplate)

Endeavor I Wind Purchases, Northern Iowa

100 MW (nameplate) (beginning April, 2011)

Prairie Star Wind Purchase, Southeastern Minn.

101 MW (nameplate)

Trimont Wind Purchase, Southwestern Minn.

100 MW (nameplate)

Ashtabula II Wind Purchases, Northeastern North Dakota

51 MW (nameplate) (beginning August, 2010)

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.

**Summer Net Dependable Capacity based on annual performance testing and per North American Electric Reliability Corporation Generating Availability Data System.

***Genoa 3 is not owned by Great River Energy but one-half of the plant capacity is purchased by Great River Energy.

Transmission Assets

 
Voltage
Mileage

69 kV or less

2,981

115 kV

422

161 kV

46

230 kV

523

345 kV

75

500 kV

70

Total AC transmission

4,117

±400 kV DC

436

Total transmission line

4,553

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

78,745

Water heating

105,713

Air conditioning & heat pumps

152,469

Ground-source heat pump

1,542

Irrigation

2,990

Curtailable commercial and industrial

1,354

Maximum load management summer control capability:

360 MW

Maximum load management winter control capability:

320 MW

Member Co-op Summary

Number of member/consumers: 645,000

Sales to members: 11,754,808 MWh

Total distribution line: 86,800 miles

Average density: 7.4 consumers/mile

Distribution substations: 550

Combined annual revenue: $1.25 billion

Electric plant in service (net): $1.8 billion

Average kilowatt-hour per consumer: 18,700/year

Distribution employees: 1,700

Systemwide load characteristics:*

Residential: 57.1%

Seasonal: 2.3%

Commercial and industrial: 40.6%

*Based on energy sales

Baseload Generation

Coal Creek Station

Location: Underwood, N.D.

Generating capability: 1,131 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: 675 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): Capable of removing more than 96 percent of the SO2 from 100 percent of the reduced DryFiningTM flue gas flow.

DryFining system: In 2009, Coal Creek Station installed a coal drying system that reduces the moisture and refines lignite using waste heat from the plant. As a result of the moisture reduction and refining, efficiency and emissions performance are improved.

Stanton Station

Location: Stanton, N.D.

Generating capability: 188 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 Energy Recovery Station

Location: Elk River, Minn.

Generating capability: 33 MW

Initial operation: Units 1 & 2 in 1951; Unit 3 in 1959

Fuel used: Since construction in the early 1950s, Elk River Energy Recovery Station has used multiple energy sources, including coal, natural gas, oil, nuclear, tire-derived fuel and wood chips. Since 1989 it has been converting the energy from refuse-derived fuel (RDF), a renewable energy source.

RDF consumption: up to 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.

Peaking Facilities

Lakefield Junction Station

Location: Martin County, Minn.

Generating capability: 500 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: 422 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

Elk River Peaking Station

Location: Elk River, MN

Generating Capacity: 183 MW (summer)

Fuel source: Natural gas; backup, fuel oil

Turbine generator: One combustion turbine manufactured by Siemens (SGT6-5000F4)

Start of operation: 2009

Project site: 20 acres

Cambridge Station

Location: Cambridge, Minn.

Generating capability: 177 MW (summer)

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: 59 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: 20 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

Elm Creek Wind

Location: Southwestern Minn.

Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)

Turbine: 66 General Electric (GE Wind) 1.5 MW wind turbines

Endeavor I

Location: NW Iowa

Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate) (beginning April, 2011)

Turbine: 40 Clipper Liberty 2.5 MW wind turbines

Prairie Star Wind

Location: Southeastern Minn.

Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)

Turbine: 61 Vestas 1.65 MW wind turbines

Trimont Wind

Location: Southwestern Minn.

Purchase: 100 MW (nameplate)

Turbine: 67 General Electric (GE Wind) 1.5 MW wind turbines

Ashtabula II

Location: NE North Dakota

Purchase: 51 MW (nameplate) (beginning August, 2010)

Turbine: 34 General Electric (GE Wind) 1.5 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: 6,611 co-op members.

Blue Flint Ethanol

A joint venture between Great River Energy and Headwaters Incorporated.

Location: Underwood, N.D.

Production capability: 58 million gallons of ethanol, 170,000 tons of distillers grains and 1.2 million gallons of corn oil per year.

Start of operation: February 2007

Heat source: Coal Creek Station

Corn consumption: 20 million bushels per year

Elk River Resource Processing Plant

Elk River Resource Processing Plant is the facility where the municipal solid waste used to make refuse-derived fuel for powering Great River Energy’s Elk River Energy Recovery Station is processed.

Location: Elk River, Minn.

Production: Up to 400,000 tons of municipal solid waste is transformed into RDF each year.

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