Jointly Owned Facilities:

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2020

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

JOINTLY OWNED FACILITIES

Our consolidated financial statements include our share of several jointly-owned utility and non-regulated facilities as described below. Our share of the facilities’ expenses are reflected in the appropriate categories of operating expenses in the Consolidated Statements of Income. Each owner of the facility is responsible for financing its investment in the jointly-owned facilities.

Wyodak Plant

South Dakota Electric owns a 20% interest in the Wyodak Plant, a coal-fired electric generating station located in Campbell County, Wyoming. PacifiCorp owns the remaining ownership percentage and operates the Wyodak Plant. South Dakota Electric receives its proportionate share of the Wyodak Plant’s capacity and is committed to pay its proportionate share of its additions, replacements and operating and maintenance expenses. In addition to supplying South Dakota Electric with coal for its share of the Wyodak Plant, our Mining subsidiary, WRDC, supplies PacifiCorp’s share of the coal to the Wyodak Plant under a separate long-term agreement. This coal supply agreement is collateralized by a mortgage on and a security interest in some of WRDC’s coal reserves.

Transmission Tie

South Dakota Electric also owns a 35% interest in, and is the operator of, the Converter Station Site and South Rapid City Interconnection (the Transmission Tie), an AC-DC-AC transmission tie. Basin Electric Power Cooperative owns the remaining ownership percentage. South Dakota Electric is committed to pay its proportionate share of the additions and replacements and operating and maintenance expenses of the transmission tie.

Wygen III

South Dakota Electric owns 52% of the Wygen III generation facility. MDU and the City of Gillette each owns an undivided ownership interest in Wygen III and are obligated to make payments for costs associated with administrative services and their proportionate share of the costs of operating the plant for the life of the facility. South Dakota Electric retains responsibility for plant operations. Our Mining subsidiary supplies fuel to Wygen III for the life of the plant.

Wygen I

Black Hills Wyoming owns 76.5% of the Wygen I plant while MEAN owns the remaining ownership percentage. MEAN is obligated to make payments for its share of the costs associated with administrative services, plant operations and coal supply provided by our Mining subsidiary during the life of the facility. Black Hills Wyoming retains responsibility for plant operations.

At December 31, 2020, our interests in jointly-owned generating facilities and transmission systems were (in thousands):


	Plant in Service		Construction Work in Progress		Less Accumulated Depreciation		Plant Net of Accumulated Depreciation
Wyodak Plant	$	116,074	$	2,249	$	(67,762)	$	50,561
Transmission Tie	$	26,176	$	509	$	(7,103)	$	19,582
Wygen III	$	142,739	$	582	$	(24,783)	$	118,538
Wygen I	$	114,975	$	318	$	(49,459)	$	65,834

Jointly Owned Facilities - Related Party

Busch Ranch I

Colorado Electric owns 50% of Busch Ranch I while Black Hills Electric Generation owns the remaining 50% ownership interest. Each company is obligated to make payments for costs associated with their proportionate share of the costs of operating the wind farm over the life of the facility. Colorado Electric retains responsibility for operations of the wind farm. Black Hills Electric Generation provides its share of energy from the wind farm to Colorado Electric through a PPA, which expires in October 2037.

Cheyenne Prairie

Cheyenne Prairie serves the utility customers of South Dakota Electric and Wyoming Electric. The facility includes one simple-cycle, 37 MW combustion turbine that is wholly-owned by Wyoming Electric and one combined-cycle, 100.4 MW unit that is jointly-owned by South Dakota Electric (58 MW) and Wyoming Electric (42.4 MW). BHSC is responsible for plant operations.

Corriedale

Corriedale serves as the dedicated wind energy supply for Renewable Ready customers in South Dakota and Wyoming. The 52.5 MW wind farm is jointly-owned by South Dakota Electric (32.5 MW) and Wyoming Electric (20 MW). BHSC is responsible for operations of the wind farm.