News Connections

U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Administrator Andrew Berke held a roundtable discussion with North Dakota electric cooperative leaders Dec. 4, 2023, in Fargo. Key topics included infrastructure, resiliency, reliability and serving rural communities.

North Dakota farmers, ranchers and food business owners are encouraged to complete a survey to help state and local agencies better understand the needs of local producers and food systems. The online survey, available at www.farrms.org/nc-rfbc, is open now through Dec. 18.

Much of North America is at elevated risk of insufficient energy supplies this winter, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) reports in its 2023-24 Winter Reliability Assessment issued in November. Prolonged, wide-area cold snaps during peak weather conditions threaten the reliable performance of the bulk power system and the availability of fuel supplies for natural-gas-fired generation, the report states.

Basin Electric Power Cooperative has broken ground on the largest single-site electric generation project to be built in North Dakota in 40 years. Named Pioneer Generation Station Phase IV, the project will build about 580 megawatts (MW) of dispatchable natural gas generation near the cooperative’s existing Pioneer Generation Station northwest of Williston.
The project will help support the growing power needs of the Bakken region.