A rendering of the Bison Generation Station planned to be built near Epping, North Dakota, by Basin Electric Power Cooperative. (Courtesy of Basin Electric)
North Dakota utility regulators on Thursday approved plans for a large natural-gas power plant that could become the largest single source of electricity in the state.
Public Service Commission Chair Randy Christmann said Basin Electric Power Cooperative’s plan is well-suited to Williams County and provides the first additional baseload power in 45 years.
“This is huge,” Christmann said, noting it would be the largest single plant in the state.
The nearly $4 billion project near Epping is planned to be built in two sections, with the first starting to generate power in 2029 and the second in 2030. Each unit would be capable of generating 745 megawatts of power.
The Bison Generation Station would burn natural gas, which Christmann said would benefit North Dakota’s oil and gas industry. It also would generate power by using steam produced by the plant to turn turbines — making it the first combined cycle power plant in the state.
In a June hearing, Basin Electric officials said the project was not developed to meet energy demands of data centers.
After Thursday’s vote, Christmann would not rule out data center development in the area.
“I think this is needed regardless of data center development,” Christmann said. “But data center development is likely to come somewhere and require generation.”
Basin Electric has announced it is developing a program to deal with large-load customers such as data centers.
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