Dive Brief:
- Wind energy developer Prelude has lost a case to force Basin Electric, an electric generation and transmission co-operative, and its affiliated co-ops to buy its wind generation under the Public Utilities Regulatory Power Act (PURPA).
- The South Dakota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously against Prelude, saying that Basin Electric is not a publicly rate-regulated utility.
- Under South Dakota law, regulators cannot force co-ops to buy generation under PURPA.
Dive Insight:
Prelude argued that Basin Electric is "not really acting as a cooperative" because it carries power generated by other utilities across its transmission lines. Prelude also alleged that Basin's filings with the state do not fully designate it a co-op.
Basin Electric and the PUC disagreed. Basin has been recognized as a co-op by the state since 1968, according to the company's filings. Because the PUC has not regulated Basin's rates for many years, the PUC's chief legal counsel compared the argument to "going down a dead-end street."