Powder River solves temporary power demand dilemma

Basin Electric engineers Mike Paul (left) and Myron Steckler stand near fuel conditioning equipment used to ensure natural gas quality for the combustion turbines at Powder River Energy's mini powerplants.

With more than 10,000 active coalbed methane wells in the Powder River Basin, coalbed methane extraction accounts for about 16 percent of Powder River Energy Corp.'s total power load, with studies showing an increase to 40 percent over the next 10 years. In addition to power access, coalbed methane development demands more generation.

In a decade, the amount of power required by active coalbed methane wells in the Powder River Basin will increase from 40 to 200 megawatts. The peak power demand from coalbed methane isn't forecasted to last, but may equal or exceed that of the area's coal mines by 2012.

The challenge

The challenge is to develop temporary power generation that can be built quickly, run efficiently and won't be a financial liability to Powder River Energy co-op members when methane is gone.

To avoid haphazard power line construction and surprise power demands by a sudden surge in drilling activity, the utility has worked with state and Federal agencies, methane companies, and the Bureau of Land Management to develop a plan for providing power to remote wells.

The partnership will work to give PRECorp an idea of where development is likely to occur, allowing the company time to plan for load demands and service requirements in specific locations in the basin.

The solution

Powder River Energy's CEO Mike Easley said, "The answer is distributed generation mini powerplants that run off coalbed methane piped in from the field." Mini powerplants have three micro turbines capable of generating about five megawatts of electricity.

PRECorp is building three mini powerplants—for a total 45 MW—to help supply power to the existing wells. The powerplants should be fully functioning by September. The utility is also in the transmission business and added about 800 miles of new line to serve the new wells in the past two years.

"The mini plants will eventually transition into reserve generation to meet peak needs or to support the transmission distribution if voltage on the lines ever sags," Easley said.

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