Minnkota Power Cooperative is a not-for-profit electric generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Grand Forks, N.D. Formed in 1940, Minnkota provides wholesale electric energy to 11 member-owner distribution cooperatives located in eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. These members serve nearly 137,000 consumer accounts in a 34,500 square-mile area, including many of the region’s homes, farms, schools and businesses.
Minnkota also serves as operating agent for the
Northern Municipal Power Agency (NMPA). Headquartered in Thief River Falls, Minn., NMPA supplies the electric needs of 12 associated municipals that serve more than 15,000 consumer accounts in the same geographic area as the Minnkota member-owners.
Minnkota is committed to delivering safe, reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible electricity. The primary source of electric generation for the Minnkota member-owners is the
Milton R. Young Station, a two-unit, lignite coal-based power plant located near the town of Center, N.D. Minnkota owns and operates Unit 1, while also operating Unit 2 on behalf of
Square Butte Electric Cooperative. Square Butte is owned by the cooperatives associated with Minnkota.
Minnkota’s electric generation portfolio includes energy purchased from
three North Dakota wind farms and hydroelectricity purchased from the
Garrison Dam in central North Dakota.
In order to deliver power, Minnkota operates and maintains a robust set of electric transmission infrastructure, including more than 3,340 miles of transmission line and 252 substations.
Minnkota's mission is to keep its electricity the best energy value in the region, and that has been the cooperative’s goal since 1940. To learn more about this history of service, visit Minnkota’s
80th anniversary article in The Minnkota Current.
