Coal plant plans announced

BEN SHOUSE

Published: 06/27/05

Construction of a new coal-fired power plant near Milbank is close to certain, as seven power companies announced plans last week to sign a key agreement.

“It means that we’re building it for sure, unless we run into problems with permitting and so forth,” said Bill Radio, spokesman for Missouri River Energy Services, one of the companies that will use power from the proposed Big Stone II plant.

Coal is the cheapest source of power, so the plant would help ensure relatively inexpensive electricity for up to a million customers in northeast South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.

But coal also is the dirtiest source, and although modern plants remove much of the air pollution, many environmental groups oppose it because of mercury, sulfur dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions.

The 600-megawatt plant would be right next to the existing 450-megawatt Big Stone plant. A megawatt is a unit of energy, enough to power anywhere from 400 to 900 homes.

Construction could begin as early as 2007, and would create roughly 625 full-time jobs for four years.

Radio said the hope is to start generating power in 2011, at which point the plant would employ 30 to 40 people.

Gov. Mike Rounds and officials from the seven companies will attend a signing ceremony on Thursday to declare their intent to move forward with the project, according to an invitation letter.

“The significance is, before there had been a group of utilities that had just talked about going forward,” said Public Utilities Commissioner Bob Sahr. “Now I think they feel comfortable enough to say, ‘We’re ready to officially kick this off.’ ”

Radio said tax incentives passed this year by the state legislature were very important to making the plant a reality. Sahr agreed: “Without the legislative changes, they likely wouldn’t be taking this step.”

Before breaking ground, the power companies will need to complete an environmental impact statement, and lengthy state permitting processes in South Dakota and Minnesota. They also will need to study how to build the necessary transmission lines.

Radio said the companies will consider adding extra transmission capacity for wind power. South Dakota has arguably the best wind power potential in the nation, Sahr said, yet it ranks 18th in installed turbines, with 44 megawatts.

The companies and utilities involved are Missouri River Energy Services, Otter Tail Power, Central Minnesota Municipal Power Agency, Great River Energy, Heartland Consumers Power District, Montana-Dakota Utilities and Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.

Reach reporter Ben Shouse at 331-2318.

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