Nov 25, 2020 | Latest News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Nov. 24, 2020
MEDIA CONTACT: Leah Mohr, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission, (605) 773-3201 or (605) 280-4327
PIERRE, S.D. – The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission today approved a construction permit for the Wild Springs Solar Project to be built in Pennington County. The decision allows Wild Springs to move forward with plans to construct a solar energy facility capable of generating up to 128 megawatts of energy one-half mile south of New Underwood, South Dakota.
Wild Springs, PUC staff and the Burndorf Family Trust, the docket’s only intervenor, previously presented a settlement agreement that was accepted by the commission at their meeting on Nov. 12, 2020. The agreement resolved all issues except for the appropriate decommissioning financial assurance. The commission’s action this week was to rule on the proposed decommissioning condition submitted by Wild Springs and determine if a permit should be granted.
“It’s extremely interesting and very exciting to see this type of renewable energy project being developed in South Dakota,” said PUC Chairman Gary Hanson. “Ten to 20 years ago, solar energy wasn’t considered a viable option for our state because we didn’t have the right climate for it. It’s exciting to see that technology has grown and investors are willing to support a renewable energy that has very few challenges from the standpoint of aesthetics or noise or anything of that nature,” he stated.
The approved permit will include 38 conditions that must be adhered to during the construction and operation of the project. Land restoration, potential impacts to threatened and endangered species, post-construction breeding bird surveys and associated nest monitoring, and the financial assurance for future decommissioning are all among the details the conditions address.
“Decommissioning financial assurance is something we’ve been dealing with for the last three years on various projects. We’ve talked about a lot of different options and an escrow account is the one we’ve adopted up to this point; partly because until now, we’ve never had a bond presented to us in a manner that was irrevocable. In this case, the applicant has figured out a way to give us the assurance that no matter what happens to the owner, the bond will remain in place,” stated Vice Chairman Chris Nelson. “I greatly appreciate the time staff has put in to initially raise the question of whether this was appropriate and then to work through the details with the applicant to ensure that this will work long term,” he continued.
The proposed solar project will span up to 1,499 acres of privately-owned land and plans to include approximately 340,000 solar panels. Other components of the project include inverters, a tracking rack system, fencing, access roads, a substation, an operations and maintenance building, a parking lot, electric collection lines, up to three weather stations and temporary construction areas.
“This is South Dakota’s biggest solar project to date. We at the PUC have had a lot of experience with wind development in the last few years, but in certain regards, solar is different. I appreciate the efforts made by PUC staff and the applicant to help us ensure our landowners will be well protected,” said Commissioner Kristie Fiegen.
Wild Springs expects to complete construction of the $190 million facility by the end of 2022. Upon completion, the project will interconnect to the New Underwood Substation owned by Western Area Power Administration, located adjacent to the project area. The energy produced by the solar facility will be purchased by Basin Electric Power Cooperative.
Wild Springs filed its application with the PUC on May 15, 2020. The PUC held a public input hearing telephonically on July 1.
The Wild Springs Solar Project docket can be viewed on the PUC’s website at
www.puc.sd.gov, Commission Actions, Electric Dockets, 2020 Electric Dockets,
EL20-018 – In the Matter of the Application by Wild Springs Solar, LLC for a Permit of a Solar Energy Facility in Pennington County, South Dakota.
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Photo Caption: East River Electric Power Cooperative’s Chief Member and Public Relations Officer, Chris Studer, was part of the solar project announcement at a news conference in February.
Nov 24, 2020 | Latest News
Neighbors helping neighbors. It’s a common phrase heard in rural America. We step up when our neighbors need help. That’s how the cooperative movement started around here. Neighbors made a promise to each other and worked to see it through. Oil and agriculture cooperatives sprung up to provide needed services. Electric co-ops were created by neighbors helping neighbors get electricity to the farm or ranch to benefit all rural families. Back then, people all across our region made a promise to each other: We’re going to work together to bring power to the prairie. People gathered together to help build their electric cooperatives by signing up their neighbors to bring electricity to rural areas that had never had it before; a service that no one else would provide. It’s made a profound difference in agricultural production, business and life in rural America. And then, those cooperatives made promises to neighboring cooperatives to create East River Electric, to provide a stable and reliable power supply to their local cooperatives.
Electric cooperatives today are still made up of member-owners that are accountable to each other. We do what we say we’re going to do. That means sticking with our commitment to provide reliable, affordable electricity to our neighbors.
Dakota Energy Cooperative headquartered in Huron has filed a legal complaint against its wholesale power supplier East River Electric Power Cooperative based in Madison. Through the legal complaint, Dakota is seeking to buy out of its long-term wholesale power contract they recently signed to take risks on the spot energy market with a for-profit company called Guzman Energy. They made a promise long ago to work together with surrounding cooperatives to create East River Electric and provide for long-term wholesale power supply. By attempting to break that promise to their fellow electric cooperatives, Dakota could end up paying more in the long run and leaving neighboring co-ops with higher costs. That’s not the co-op way.
The other cooperatives in our region want to continue working together to take advantage of economies of scale and the collective strength that our network provides and honor the promise they made to their rural neighbors. By keeping our cooperative family whole and helping our neighbors, we can continue to provide safe, affordable and reliable electricity for the long term.
Nov 23, 2020 | Community
East River Electric Cooperative’s Madison crews removed a large evergreen tree from Dakota State University’s campus to be donated as the Community Christmas Tree. They transported the tree from campus to the Dairy Queen parking lot. Employees from the City of Madison assisted East River in setting the tree. The Madison Area Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a Community Christmas Tree lighting on Saturday, December 5. Watch the Chamber’s Facebook page for a livestream of the lighting ceremony.
Nov 20, 2020 | Community
East River employees participated in a Thanksgiving food drive for the Lake County Food Pantry. Employees donated a combination of groceries and over $100 in cash to provide 24 complete Thanksgiving meals for local families. The meals included ham, dressing, potatoes and gravy, side dishes and desserts. Thank you to the Employees Committee for organizing the food drive.
Nov 19, 2020 | Latest News
In an increasingly uncertain world, people need something they can count on. For 70 years, East River Electric Power Cooperative has been serving its member cooperatives with reliable, affordable and sustainable electricity. Our member systems distribute that energy to their member-owners to power their homes, farms and their lives. We’ve stood alongside our member cooperatives for seven decades to make the lives of their members better and more convenient.
Recently, Dakota Energy’s board and management took a step to tear apart their relationship with the region’s other electric cooperatives and take a gamble by purchasing electricity on the spot market from a for-profit company named Guzman Energy. Guzman was created by a private equity firm made up of out-of-state investors. Dakota Energy’s management has pointed to the length of the wholesale power contract they just re-signed in 2015 as reason to leave the cooperative family. The best way to explain the wholesale power contract is to look to history as a guide and also look at how the wholesale power contract helps secure our future.
The region’s electric cooperatives created East River Electric 70 years ago because they had been buying wholesale power from for-profit companies because they didn’t have their own generation assets. The founding members of the cooperative system knew that they didn’t want to continue paying far-off investors and worked to create a complete cooperative system to provide their own wholesale power. They knew this shift would give them more control over their future. Each cooperative would have representation on East River’s board of directors no matter their size, following the cooperative principle of one member, one vote. Because of the long-term nature of the utility business, they knew long-term contracts were necessary to provide stability and certainty. They also knew that they could minimize individual costs to each cooperative if they all worked together to invest the money necessary to build expensive transmission, substation and generation assets.
In 2020, East River Electric members still see long-term contracts as a necessary piece of providing power for the long term. A wholesale power contract is a promise among electric cooperatives to work together, take advantage of economies of scale, and procure and provide power at the lowest possible cost. It allows East River and its power supplier Basin Electric to borrow capital at lower interest rates. Lenders have confidence in wholesale power contracts and provide attractive interest rates because of the certainty the contracts provide. Short term, risky contracts would bring higher interest rates, and therefore higher electric rates for consumers.
The bottom line is that long-term wholesale power contracts are a promise that cooperatives make to each other to provide the certainty that we all need right now.
