Montana-Dakota Utilities to add generation at Lewis and Clark Station site

BISMARCK, N.D. – Jan. 27, 2015 – Montana-Dakota Utilities today announced that it will install 19 MW of electric generation at its Lewis and Clark Station site in Sidney, Montana. The new generation capacity is needed to meet the growing electric demand in Montana-Dakota’s service territory.

The generation is expected to be online during the fall of 2015.

The power will be generated by two large internal combustion engines fueled by natural gas. The unit will be located near Montana-Dakota’s Lewis and Clark coal-fired plant. The generation station will be capable of reaching full power within 10 minutes and will be used as a peaking facility to provide power to customers during peak demand.

“These units were included as part of our generation resource planning process and were selected due to size and cost,” said Jay Skabo, vice president of electric supply for Montana-Dakota. “Other factors were the emissions profile, efficiency, anticipated maintenance profile and ease of construction.”