Finance & Commerce has published another great article about our smart grid project:
http://finance-commerce.com/2012/05/great-river-energy-two-co-ops-to-test-smart-grid-technologies/

Great River Energy, Lake Region Electric Cooperative and Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative have launched a $5 million smart grid demonstration project with help from a grant  from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Great River Energy held a roundtable discussion led by Patricia Hoffman, U.S. Department of Energy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at our headquarters in Maple Grove, Minn. on Tuesday. Hoffman led a discussion of smart grid technology development, the benefits the technology can provide and factors to be weighed and evaluated.

Gary Connett, Great River Energy, Director, Member Services & Demand Side Mangement (left) and Assist. Sec. Patricia Hoffman, U.S. Dept. of Energy (right)

Participants included:

• Assist. Sec. Patricia Hoffman, U.S. Dept. of Energy
• John Hewa, Cooperative Research Network
• Steve Palmquist, Co-op consumer-member
• Ryan Hentges, Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative
• Prof. Georgios Giannakis, University of Minnesota
• Prof. Massoud Amin, University of Minnesota
• Commissioner David Boyd, Minn. Public Utilities Commission
• Rolf Nordstrom, Great Plains Institute
• Deputy Commissioner Bill Grant, Minn. Dept. Of Commerce
• Al Juhnke, Sen. Franken’s office
• Jaco Botha, Co-op consumer-member
• Ed Jenson, Lake Region Electric Cooperative
• Jay Morrison, National Rural Electric Cooperative Assoc.
• Gary Connett, Great River Energy

We shared the live discussion on Twitter. Search Twitter for #smartgridcoop to read the conversation.

The Star Tribune ran a story today about our smart grid announcement. Read it here: Power co-ops launch $5 million ’smart grid’ project

Electric cooperatives in Minnesota kicked off a $5 million demonstration project today with the execution of contracts for hardware and software that will help modernize Minnesota’s electric grid.

As part of the National Rural Electric Association (NRECA’s) $34 million grant program, Minnesota cooperatives Great River Energy, Lake Region Electric Cooperative and Minnesota Valley Electric Cooperative will implement software systems to manage the large amounts of data collected from smart meters. Other components of the demonstration project include the installation of in-home displays to signal homeowners when electricity prices spike; ability for customers to access their electricity usage data via the web; enhanced demand response management tools; and demonstration of energy storage devices, including residential battery storage systems and grid-interactive electric thermal storage water heaters.

“This demonstration project will enable our cooperatives and member-consumers to have a better understanding of the data available through smart grid systems, while also providing for more strategic demand response and load control programs,” said Gary Connett, director of demand side management and member services, Great River Energy. “The software tools, combined with demonstrations of pricing and energy storage solutions, will help modernize the electric grid in Minnesota, and provide valuable information for future smart grid solutions.”

“Nationwide, cooperatives are leading in the deployment of smart meter infrastructure, the development of interoperability and cyber security,” said John Hewa, NRECA’s Vice President of Research, Engineering and Technical Services. “With challenging service territories that cover more than 70 percent of the country’s landmass, cooperatives are researching and developing new technologies that can drive down costs and improve service for their members.  Consumer trust in their co-op has allowed cooperatives to make these investments in leading-edge technologies.”

NRECA’s research arm, the Cooperative Research Network (CRN), is managing procurement of the software and equipment for the demonstration project, including contracts with the following companies:

Supported by a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, a total of 23 cooperatives nationwide are participating in smart grid demonstration projects, deploying more than 75 technologies and equipment in 12 states.

Faced with a strong growth in demand for electricity by its member cooperatives and the need for a long-term asset to provide the generation to meet that growing demand, Great River Energy started construction of Spiritwood Station, a 99 megawatt combined heat and power plant located just east of Jamestown, N.D., in October 2007.

The power plant, built at a cost of $424 million, will generate electricity for the regional electricity market, and provide process steam to a malting facility located adjacent to the plant. When fully utilized, Spiritwood Station will be about 66 percent efficient. This compares to about 30-35 percent efficient for most coal-based power plants in the United States. Also, the plant will utilize the best available emissions control technologies, making it one of the cleanest power plants in the country.

The plant in service date is being delayed. During the construction phase, the United States was unexpectedly hit by the recession, and Great River Energy’s five-year forecasted growth dropped from a strong 2.5 percent prior, to a marginal 0.5 to 1.0 percent. Prices also dropped in the regional electricity market, and the loss of a proposed ethanol plant that would have used process steam from the plant, resulted in a challenging short-term outlook for Spiritwood Station.

Thus, Great River Energy made a decision in August 2011 to delay the in-service date of Spiritwood Station past 2012. The delay of the in-service date will minimize the cost impact to members and will help to maintain the competitiveness of our rates. Great River Energy’s members will again need more baseload electricity in the future, and that will help make Spiritwood Station a valuable long-term investment. This will occur as demand and electricity prices increase via a turnaround in the economy, and as additional markets develop for the available process steam from the plant.

Last fall, we finished commissioning activities at Spiritwood Station with successful results. In November, employees immediately started a protect, preserve and maintain mode at plant. That included drying the boiler and piping systems, cleaning equipment, moving all coal, lime and ash offsite, and site cleanup. Current activities include monitoring preservation of equipment, running lube oil systems, running conveyors to preserve the belts, turning motors, and performing other preventive maintenance activities. A 2013 operational plan for Spiritwood Station will be developed later this year.

Contractors have begun removing trees along a 10½-mile segment of Great River Energy’s 230-kilovolt “PE” line in the Elk River, Ramsey and Andover areas of Minnesota. The trees are too close to the power line and need to be removed for the safety and reliability of the system, and to maintain compliance with ever-stricter standards from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).

Working with property owners to remove trees along power lines is often challenging and the history of this transmission line, along with tougher NERC standards, makes this project more challenging than usual.  According to Byron Johnson, Great River Energy’s supervisor of vegetation management, when this transmission line was purchased from another utility in 2003, it had not been maintained to our standards. Since then we have been slowly working with landowners to widen the clear area around the power line. 

Great River Energy has easements with landowners along the transmission line, which provide us the rights to remove trees and manage vegetation within the right of way, or the strip of land defined in the easement. We have previously allowed some trees and shrubs to remain in the outer 35 feet of the right of way, but now we must remove most trees in the full width of the right of way.

“We have tried to find a balance between maintaining the line and not causing a lot of hardship to property owners,” said Johnson. “But now that NERC standards have become stricter, we are at risk for significant fines. We have to finish clearing the rest of the right of way.”

Approximately 160 landowners along the line received letters and a Q&A on the project. According to Rick Heuring, senior field representative in our land rights department, the project is going fairly smoothly to date considering that there are many landowners who will be losing a number of trees. Work on this segment of the transmission line will continue through the end of the year. In 2012, work will begin on the remaining 3.8 miles.

Great River Energy recently announced it will not operate Spiritwood Station’s main boiler in 2012. The change in Spiritwood Station’s operational plan is primarily due to low prices in the energy market and reduced demand for electricity. However, a turnaround in the economy could increase market prices and result in routine operation at Spiritwood Station.

Spiritwood Station’s main boiler will not operate in 2012 due to low prices in the energy market and reduced demand for electricity.

Also, the development of a proposed second steam host, the Dakota Spirit AgEnergy biorefinery, at Spiritwood, could improve the power plant’s economics. The proposed biorefinery could be constructed in late 2013.

Although we don’t plan to operate Spiritwood Station’s main boiler in 2012, startup activities are underway, with completion expected by the end of the year. This will make the unit ready for commercial operation. During startup activities, DryFine lignite will be delivered to the site. Commissioning of the turbine began in late August, and the plant has already synced with the grid the week of Aug. 29, via natural gas. The plant began using DryFine coal the first part of September, and the plant will be fine tuned through the end of the year.

During 2012, employees will perform maintenance activities to preserve the main boiler equipment in a “laid up” condition. Current plant employees will remain onsite to conduct maintenance work.

For more information regarding Spiritwood Station visit greatriverenergy.com.

CapX2020 and the Minnesota Department of Transportation remind drivers on Interstate 94 near St. Cloud to pay attention to the road while helicopters are being used in transmission line construction.

A worker hangs from the end the line connected to the helicopter. Workers are installing hardware via helicopter to preserve the wetlands below the towers.

Continuing through the fall, helicopters will be used to string conductor on the 345 kV transmission line route between Monticello and St. Cloud. At times, implosive devices will be used to splice wire together, creating a noise about as loud as a shotgun blast.

CapX2020 and MNDOT have placed fliers at gas stations, posted signs along the interstate, and have worked with local officials to remind drivers to pay attention to the road and drive safely.

View a news story about the helicopter installation here: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=934629

And learn more about CapX2020 at capx2020.com

Recently, Great River Energy transmission construction & maintenance staff finished a project that involved removal of 13 osprey nests from Great River Energy’s 230-kilovolt transmission line that runs east of Brainerd, Minn., in the Crow Wing Power member service area.

Adam Hinnenkamp (shown right) and Brent Benjamin build platforms for the osprey nests.

Ospreys are large raptors, which can reach two feet in length and have a wing span of six feet or more. When they build their nests (which can be three feet in diameter or larger) on the cross arms of wood transmission line structures, the nests become a hazard to safety and reliability. Fecal matter and moisture builds up and accelerates decay. The decay will eventually cause the arm to drop the wire, possibly causing outages, fires or electrocution if someone is standing nearby. The time was right to get the work done because ospreys migrate to the tropics for the winter and frozen ground makes accessing the nests easier.

Although not all of the nests could be saved, Great River Energy worked with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on a plan to save and move five of the nests. Crews built special platforms and attached them to structures on the same transmission line, then they carefully moved the nests.

One reason not all of the nests can be saved is that relocations can be costly. “We need to be sensitive to both the future of the osprey and the costs associated with projects like this,” said Roger Kiefer, manager, transmission construction & maintenance.

A blast from the implosive splicing demonstration at the CapX2020 staging area. The blasts will be as loud as professional fireworks.

The CapX2020 construction team recently completed a demonstration of an implosive splicing technique that will enable stronger spliced conductors and ‘dead-ends’ at the towers.

The demonstration was conducted at the Clearwater staging yard and included utility personnel, local officials and state officials. The implosive splicing will occur along Interstate 94 in the summer, so it will be important to raise awareness of the loud blasts that will occur while drivers are traveling along the corridor.

View a video featuring the demonstration and explanation from the developing engineer here: http://www.capx2020.com/Gallery/movies/implosive-connectors.html

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (MN PUC) has approved the Minnesota River crossing at Belle Plaine for the CapX2020 Brookings County-Hampton 345 kilovolt (kV) transmission line. This approval finalizes the last segment of the project route between the Cedar Mountain substation (Renville County) and Helena substation (Scott County).

The decision comes after a rigorous public review that lasted more than two years and included nearly 30 public meetings and hearings where landowners, local governments and other interested stakeholders expressed comments and provided input about the project’s route.

Crews work to erect the first transmission structure for the CapX2020 Monticello-St. Cloud transmission line in early January. Similar structures will be used for the Brookings County-Hampton 345 kV transmission line.

The MN PUC approved the majority of the route in July 2010, but sent the Minnesota River crossing back to Administrative Law Judge Richard Luis for review additional information regarding impacts to birds at the crossing.

“The CapX2020 utilities appreciate the work of the Commission, its staff, many other state employees and landowners throughout the area who were involved in this vital proceeding,” said Dan Lesher, Great River Energy, project routing lead. “This important project can now move forward with the certainty of a final route.”

“This transmission line will help to provide continued reliable service, support the regional transmission system, and allow access to new generation, including renewable wind generation in western Minnesota and South Dakota,” said Will Kaul, vice president of transmission at Great River Energy and chairman of CapX2020. “The Commission’s decision supports CapX2020’s ability to continue to develop and construct needed transmission in the Upper Midwest.”

The MN PUC-approved route follows the original preferred route from the Cedar Mountain substation and connects with the alternate route in Sibley County at what is known as the “Gibbon alternative,” an approximately five-mile route west of Gibbon. It then follows the alternate route to cross the Minnesota River near an existing 69 kV transmission line by Belle Plaine. After crossing the river, the route follows roads, fields and section lines to connect with the permitted Helena substation site near 270th Street and Aberdeen Avenue west of New Prague.

Field construction on the Brookings County-Hampton project is scheduled to begin in 2012 and be completed in 2015. Along with the approximately 250-mile transmission line, four new substations will be built, and four existing substations will be expanded.

Learn more, visit: www.capx2020.com