Geronimo Energy, Basin Electric Power Cooperative announce Power Purchase Agreement for South Dakota solar project

Geronimo Energy (Geronimo), a National Grid company, and Basin Electric Power Cooperative (Basin Electric) announced Tuesday the execution of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for a 128 megawatt (MW) solar energy project in Pennington County, South Dakota.

Once completed, the Wild Springs Solar Project (Wild Springs) will be the largest solar project in South Dakota. The project is expected to begin operations in 2022.

“For the first time in its history, Basin Electric will buy solar generation on a large scale to serve our members,” said Paul Sukut, CEO and general manager of Basin Electric Power Cooperative. “The board’s decision to add solar generation to our resource portfolio is to continue with our all-of-the-above strategy, as well as solar generation becoming a more economic energy source. We are excited about adding solar to our already diverse generation mix.”

Wild Springs will be located approximately 20 miles east of Rapid City in the service area of West River Electric Association, Inc. (West River Electric), a distribution electric cooperative member of Basin Electric.

“We’re excited that West River’s service area will be home to the Wild Springs Solar Project,” West River Electric Association CEO and General Manager Dick Johnson said. “This solar energy project will benefit our cooperative family, as well as our local communities. As not-for-profit co-ops that are owned by our members, everything we do goes back to the people we serve.”