Basic Electric to buy South Dakota wind power

Basic Electric Power Cooperative has reached a 25-year agreement to purchase power from a new South Dakota wind farm being developed by a Houston company.

The 200 megawatts of wind power that Basin will purchase from ENGIE North America’s North Bend Wind project will help meet the monthly electricity needs of some 73,000 homes.

The project in central South Dakota is expected to come online late next year, with 71 wind turbines on approximately 47,000 acres outside of Harold, South Dakota, near the cooperative’s service area. The power that Basin will purchase will help support its 131 member cooperatives in nine states.

ENGIE operates or is building nearly five gigawatts of wind, solar and battery storage projects in the US and Canada.