Growth & Storm: top challenges for local co-ops in 2005
Mar. 2006
East River Electric Power Cooperative, a regional power supplier, contributed to the growth of its service area in several ways last year. A Madison, S.D.-based Touchstone Energy Cooperative, East River supplies wholesale power and other services to 21 member electric distribution systems in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota.
The co-op constructed new substations, power lines and related facilities to serve the growing loads, which rose at nearly 6 percent. Area electric cooperatives also offered economic assistance through a unified development program that helps create new businesses and jobs. The greatest accomplishment of the year, however, for East River and many of its member systems, was restoring power following what’s been called the worst ice storm in South Dakota history.
The Ice Storm and Blizzard of 2005
As the Thanksgiving weekend came to close, freezing rain produced several inches of ice on powerlines over much of eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. On Monday, high winds buffeted the heavily-laden electric network. Connected by wires, when one power pole snapped, it dragged down adjacent poles like dominoes, sometimes for miles.
By the time the storm ended, 1,200 East River high-voltage transmission poles were destroyed, 725 miles of transmission lines were out of service and 35 substations serving local Touchstone Energy Cooperative distribution systems were off line. The estimated cost to repair the transmission system was approximately $6 million.
Meanwhile, many local electric distribution systems were also hard-hit by the combination of ice, snow and wind. An estimated 10,000 distribution poles went down, leaving more than 20,000 electric cooperative members in eastern South Dakota without power as frigid Arctic air arrived. The most wide-spread and devastating ice storm in the state's history caused an estimated $20 million in damages to the electric systems of Touchstone Energy Cooperatives.
Demonstrating the Cooperative Principle of "Cooperation among Cooperatives," dozens of cooperatives from South Dakota and neighboring states sent line crews to help rebuild the devastated electric systems in frigid winter conditions and difficult terrain. Electric circuits, which took years to construct, were destroyed by Mother Nature in a few hours. Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of office and fieldworkers, power was restored to the final hardest-hit areas in only two weeks.
Declared a federal disaster, much of the damage to public utilities and cooperatives is expected to be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
In addition to coordinating several hundred workers repairing its transmission system, East River also supported the efforts of a dozen storm-impacted member distribution systems, working to restore electricity to the homes, farmers and businesses of cooperative members.
Cooperation -- REA's Greatest Strength
Coming to the aid of one-another in times of crisis is one of the rural electric cooperative program’s greatest strengths.
Last fall, East River and member cooperatives sent line workers to help cooperatives in Louisiana recover from the hurricanes that battered their service territories. Without help from other cooperatives, from in-state and out-of-state, it would take much longer to restore service to some customers after the ice storm. With cooperation, however, cooperatives are able to restore service much faster, so members' lives can return to normal.
East River Electric delivers wholesale power through a 2,600-mile transmission system to 21 member electric distribution systems. These distribution systems in turn provide retail electricity to more than 85,000 homes and businesses in a 36,000-square-mile service area, covering 41 counties in eastern South Dakota and nine counties in western Minnesota. East River and its member cooperatives belong to an alliance of 630 Touchstone Energy Cooperatives in 45 states, delivering energy and energy solutions with integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community.
East River Electric Outlook for 2006
East River Electric Power Cooperative is expecting its load growth to continue at more than 5 percent again in 2006. Through its 2,600-mile transmission system, the Madisonbased power supplier delivers energy and related services to 21 member electric distribution systems in eastern South Dakota and western Minnesota. These systems, in turn, expect to serve 90,000 cooperative members by year-end.
In addition to completing storm repairs, East River has a busy multi-year construction program in progress. To continue providing high-quality and reliable energy to current and future commercial and residential consumers, the three-year East River construction plan includes building nine new substations and nearly 100 miles of new transmission lines.
East River and its member systems will continue in 2006 bringing investment capital for creating new wealth, businesses and jobs to small communities through their unified economic development initiative. During 2005, the Rural Electric Economic Development Fund issued nearly $5 million in loans for agricultural, retail, industrial and community infrastructure projects in our service areas. Since inception in 1996, the REED Fund has issued a total of 133 loans for $26 million that have created or retained more than 3,600 jobs and leveraged an estimated $200 million in investments.
To help meet the increasing demand for electricity by cooperative members, East River is working with Basin Electric Power Cooperative on new generating resources. A naturalgas- powered peaking unit is under construction near Groton and will come online this summer. Also, we will soon harness waste heat from pumping stations along the Northern Border Pipeline to generate electricity.
Cooperatives will continue their leadership in harnessing the power of the wind in the Dakotas. Basin Electric is purchasing the output from the new 33-unit Wilton Wind Farm in North Dakota, which came on line in early 2006, to serve cooperative members. Basin now supplies approximately 8 percent of the demand of its members from wind power and is nearing its environmentally-responsible goal of 10 percent of demand from renewables in 2010.
The Touchstone Energy Cooperatives expect record sales of heat pumps and other energy-efficient electric appliances in 2006, as people look for lower-cost alternative heating sources. East River and its member cooperatives will again shine a spotlight on high school students for scholastic and civic achievements through the Touchstone Energy Cooperatives’ "Scholar of the Week" segment on KFSY-TV news.
And, we will keep the interests of electric cooperative members included in legislative and regulatory discussions at the state, regional and national arenas. Through political partnerships, we participate in debates involving Missouri River hydropower, the environment, irrigation, transmission-access, wind power, captive rail shipping, energy legislation and many other issues that affect electric cooperatives and the rural economy.
