Founded 1949 | ||
Central Power Electric Cooperative is a North Dakota-based electrical generation and transmission cooperative based in Minot, North Dakota and was founded in 1949. Central Power purchases power from Basin Electric Power Cooperative to serve its six-member rural electric cooperatives. 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. Neal Station was sold to Basin when Central Power could become a member of Basin, and was later modified to burn sunflower seed hulls in addition to lignite coal. The Neal Station was decommissioned in the early 2000s.
Central Power owns and operates 114 distribution substations, 22 high voltage transmission stations with voltages up to 230 kV, and about 1000 miles of 115 kV, 69 kV, 60 kV, and 43.8 kV transmission line interconnected with the Western Area Power Administration, Basin Electric, Otter Tail Power, Montana-Dakota Utilities, and Xcel Energy systems.