Basin Electric and Next Air brief Mercer County on Riverrun project and large-load program

Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Next Air Energy Resources made separate presentations to the Mercer County Commission on a proposed Riverrun Energy Center and the cooperative’s new large-load commercial program.

Andy Buntro, representing Basin Electric, told commissioners the utility has seen a sharp rise in requests for very large electricity loads and that the cooperative has created a program to prevent existing customers from bearing the full financial risk of building new generation and transmission. “The cost causer is the coster,” Buntro said, adding the program is designed so communities that want large loads to spur growth can do so without saddling other members with stranded-asset risk.

The large-load program, Buntro said, asks prospective big customers to accept higher up-front cost contributions and phased commitments so the cooperative can protect long-term rates for remaining members. He told the commission Basin’s peak billing reached about 5,150 megawatts in January 2025 across its footprint, and that roughly 13,700 megawatts of large-load requests across Basin’s service area were in an application hopper before the cooperative’s new policy reduced speculative requests.

Next, Chase Dhau of Next Air Energy Resources outlined the Riverrun Energy Center concept — a staged project that would include a natural-gas generation facility and an adjacent data-center campus. Dhau said the current near-term interconnection request is roughly 1,450 megawatts for the natural-gas component, with the gas plant sited on roughly 150 acres and a possible data-center footprint of about 1,500 acres. He described a permitting and study process including field surveys for environmental and tribal resources, and said the developers would pursue state and federal water and air permits and a Public Service Commission siting review if the project advances.

“This is an $18 billion investment or potential new investment to Mercer County that has the potential to bring conservatively 230 plus direct employees, full-time positions working in the natural gas plant and the data center,” Dhau said, and he estimated the project could generate about $15 million in additional annual tax revenue to Mercer County, roughly $7 million of which would be allocated to school districts.

Commissioners and staff asked technical and timing questions about interconnection studies, potential uses of the nearby CO2 pipeline, and how the proposed facilities would be permitted and staged. Developers said site studies are ongoing, that Basin Electric and regional transmission operators would need to approve interconnection requests, and that detailed environmental review and local ordinance compliance would be part of the next phases.

No formal approvals were requested at the meeting; commissioners heard the briefings and participants emphasized that any future permits, conditional-use reviews and local approvals would control what can ultimately be built and when.