3 Tours in North Dakota
Antelope Valley Station Beulah, ND |
The Antelope Valley Station is a lignite-fired electric generating station located seven miles northwest of Beulah, ND. It has two units, each rated at 450,000 KW. The first unit began commercial operation in July 1984, and the second unit began in July 1986. They were built at a cost of $1.9 billion. Lignite, the fuel for AVS, is provided from the Freedom Mine, adjacent to the plant site. A major part of the fuel supply also comes from the neighboring Great Plains Synfuels Plant in the form of lignite fines, coal particles too small for use in the ... |
Dakota Gasification Company Beulah, ND |
The Great Plains Synfuels Plant appears as a massive complex of pipes, towers and buildings on the rolling North Dakota prairie. This plant is actually much more: it is part of an American dream. The 1970s energy crisis spawned a vision of greater U.S. energy independence. Abundant lignite resources underlying the North Dakota plains held promise as a vast synthetic fuel source. The Synfuels plant began operating in 1984 and today produces more than 54 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas annually. Coal consumption exceeds 6 million tons each year. Synthetic Natural Gas leaves the plant through a 2-foot-diameter ... |
Leland Olds Station Stanton, ND |
The Leland Olds Station (LOS) is named for Leland Olds, a champion of public power who served on the Federal Power Commission for 10 years under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In a speech in 1959, Olds called for the construction of consumer-owned power plants that would be integrated with the federal hydroelectric dams on the Missouri River. He described what was then a hope for him, but it eventually became a successful reality through the creation of Basin Electric in 1961. LOS, located four miles southeast of Stanton, ND, was the first electric generating station built by Basin Electric. ... |