Central Power Electric Cooperative is a North Dakota-based electrical generation and transmission

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

founded in 1949 and which is based in

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 20 ...

. Central Power purchases power from

Basin Electric Power Cooperative Basin Electric Power Cooperative is a wholesale electric generation and transmission utility cooperative, cooperative based in North Dakota that provides electricity to 2.8 million customers in nine U.S. states. The roots of the cooperative go back ...

to serve its six-member

rural electric cooperative A utility cooperative is a type of cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications to its members. Profit (accounting), Profits are either reinvested for infrastructure or distrib ...

s. It also built the William J. Neal Station near Voltaire, ND in 1951 to meet its members' needs, with the power being delivered over the lines of the

Otter Tail Power Company Otter Tail Corporation is an energy company based in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Its main subsidiary is the Otter Tail Power Company. As of 2007, Otter Tail Power Company serves at least 423 towns at retail and delivers powe ...

. When Central Power joined Basin Electric, Neal Station was transferred to Basin as a condition of membership. In its later years, Neal Station was modified to burn sunflower seed hulls in addition to

lignite coal Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

, but had been decommissioned and removed by the early 2000s. Central Power owns and operates over 170 substations, the majority of which are distribution substations across its member cooperatives' territories. The remainder are transmission substations which provide power to the distribution substations. These lines are operated at 230kV, 115kV, 69kV, 57kV, and 41.6kV, and are also interconnected with the

Western Area Power Administration As one of the four power marketing administrations within the U.S. Department of Energy, the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA)'s role is to market wholesale hydropower generated at 57 hydroelectric federal dams operated by the Bureau of R ...

, Basin Electric, Otter Tail Power, Montana-Dakota Utilities, and

Xcel Energy Xcel Energy Inc. is an American utility holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, serving more than 3.7 million electric customers and 2.1 million natural gas customers in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico in 2019. It consists of four oper ...

systems.

Member cooperatives

: Capital Electric Cooperative : Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative - previously James Valley Electric and RSR Electric : McLean Electric Cooperative : North Central Electric Cooperative : Northern Plains Electric Cooperative - previously Baker Electric and Tri-County Electric : Verendrye Electric Cooperative

External links

Central Power Electric Cooperative site

References

{{reflist Electric cooperatives in North Dakota Minot, North Dakota Electric generation and transmission cooperatives in the United States