One of the questions we often hear about TWEC’s generation is:
“Why doesn’t Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative just generate its own electricity?”
It’s a fair question and the answer comes down to size, cost, and reliability.
Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative is a distribution cooperative. Our job is to deliver electricity safely and reliably to over 12,500 meters for homes, farms, and businesses across our service territory. We own and maintain the local substations, poles, transformers, and more than 2,300 miles of distribution line that bring electricity directly to our members.
Generating electricity is an entirely different business.
Building even a single power plant requires an investment that can cost hundreds of millions–or even billions–of dollars, depending on the technology. In addition to construction costs, generation owners must purchase fuel, employ specialized engineers and operators, comply with extensive environmental regulations, maintain generating equipment around the clock, and ensure enough power is available every minute of every day.
For a cooperative the size of Todd-Wadena, those costs would be spread across only our members. The result would be significantly higher electric rates and greater financial risk.
Instead, Todd-Wadena is one of 26 member-owner cooperatives that own Great River Energy (GRE), our generation and transmission cooperative.
Think of it this way: one local cooperative couldn’t reasonably build and operate an interstate highway system just for its members, but together, many cooperatives can own and operate the larger infrastructure everyone depends on. The same concept applies to electricity generation and the high-voltage transmission grid.
By working together through GRE, all 26 electric cooperatives share the cost of:
- Power plants and energy resources
- Hundreds of miles of high-voltage transmission lines
- Grid operations and reliability experts
- Energy market specialists
- Long-term planning and engineering
- Investments in new technologies
Working together helps us save money by sharing costs. Instead of each cooperative trying to build enough generation for its own members, GRE develops resources that serve hundreds of thousands of cooperative consumers. Sharing those costs keeps electricity far more affordable than if each cooperative had to go it alone.
Another important advantage is resource diversity. Electricity demand changes by the hour and by the season. Some days wind generation is plentiful. Other times natural gas, hydropower, or market purchases are needed to meet demand. GRE manages a diverse portfolio of energy resources and can respond to changing conditions in ways that would be impossible for a single distribution cooperative.
GRE also plans decades into the future studying projected demand, investing in transmission infrastructure, and ensuring adequate power supply as technology and member needs evolve. Those long-term investments help maintain reliability while allowing local cooperatives like Todd-Wadena to focus on serving our communities.
Todd-Wadena Electric Cooperative remains locally owned and locally governed. Our board of directors, elected by the membership, helps guide decisions affecting our cooperative, while also having representation in the governance of Great River Energy. That means your cooperative has a voice in how wholesale power is planned and provided.
The cooperative model is built on the idea that we’re stronger together than we are alone. By partnering with Great River Energy, Todd-Wadena can focus on what we do best–delivering safe, reliable electricity and exceptional local service–while benefiting from the strength, expertise, and purchasing power that only a generation and transmission cooperative can provide.
