BISMARCK, N.D. – Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. announced today that construction of an 88-megawatt simple cycle combustion turbine is complete, and the electric generating unit is ready to provide power to its customers.
The natural gas-fired electric generation facility is located on existing company-owned land next to an identical combustion turbine that went online in 2014 near Mandan, N.D. The new facility is needed to meet the capacity requirements of Montana-Dakota’s electric customers served by its integrated system; it replaces the retired coal units that were located on site.
“This new facility will add to our generation portfolio and provide our customers with a cost-effective capacity resource for many years into the future,” said Darcy Neigum, vice president of electric supply for Montana-Dakota Utilities. “With this project we were able to capitalize on the location and achieve cost efficiencies by sharing facilities, such as the natural gas supply pipeline, electric transmission and existing employees.”
The approximately $69 million facility is a peaking plant, which is designed to be called into service when the company’s electric demand reaches its peak. The unit can be called upon to produce power within 30 minutes.
