Minnkota Messenger

News

If you build it, they will stay

With some help from Minnkota Power Cooperative, Grafton, North Dakota, has broken ground on a critical new housing complex.

News

Minnkota selected to continue forward in New ERA program

Minnkota is now one of 16 cooperatives with access to $7.3 billion in federal funding for carbon-reduction projects.

Technology

Incredibly plugged in

A Red Lake Electric Cooperative member is collecting the latest in battery-powered garage tech, including a Tesla Cybertruck.

Our Power

The right way to do rights of way

Minnkota is enhancing its power line corridors with vegetation management and conservation programs.

Our Power

Reclaiming the land

BNI Coal’s land reclamation processes continue to evolve with the changing needs of local farmers and landowners.

Features

Eat, drink and be married at Copper Ridge

One of Red Lake Electric Cooperative’s newest business members is offering rural elegance for life’s big events.

Features

A leap of freedom

This June, Minnkota’s Terry Peoples marked the 80th anniversary of D-Day with a ceremonial paratroop jump into Normandy.

Community

The healing lift of water

Minnkota’s Nelson Lake recently hosted the annual Escape to the Lake event, an opportunity for those with health challenges to try water skiing.

News

NRECA honors Minnkota for communications projects

Minnkota's communications team has earned two Spotlight on Excellence Awards for 2023 projects.

Our Power

Capturing magic in coal country

Glen Ullin’s Abrasives Inc. harnesses the benefits of Minnkota bottom ash in its signature blasting material.

Technology

Scaling up service

In the past year, Minnkota Power Cooperative acquired Great Plains Tower Services in an effort to keep its climbing technicians local.

Features

‘It was not her time to go’

Minnkota's Troy Karlberg recently performed life-saving CPR on a woman at her granddaughter's wedding reception.

Our Power

Down to the wire

The grid reliability alarms are ringing. How is Minnkota Power Cooperative preparing?

Our Power

Supply chain reaction

Minnkota's Procurement team is finding creative solutions for post-pandemic prices and lead times.

Features

Willow’s cup runneth over

A Wild Rice Electric Cooperative member-family is helping their teen’s mug business reach the boiling point.

Our Power

Powerful voices unite

Minnkota recognized the impact of its members, employees and partners during its 84th annual meeting on April 12.

Community

McLennan wins charity dance competition

Minnkota CEO Mac McLennan won the Dancing for Special Stars Grand Forks competition, raising nearly $40,000 for the Special Olympics.

News

Dahl named 'Woman to Know' in ND business

Minnkota Vice President of External Affairs has been named one of 15 Women You Should Know by the North Dakota Chamber.

News

‘Carrying my tools’

New Cass County Electric Cooperative leader Paul Matthys reflects on his journey from tradesman to CEO.

News

Grid regulators issue warnings about power reliability

The regional grid is facing a high to extreme risk of reliability issues in the next five years, due to fewer resources with reliability attributes.

Community

Minnkota, employees give big on Giving Hearts Day

Giving Hearts Day is an annual 24-hour giving event that supports charities in North Dakota and northwest Minnesota.

Features

Safety from the land of the ice and snow

A rare peek into Bosch’s Baudette, Minn., proving grounds – a North Star Electric Cooperative business member – reveals a mission of winter driving innovation.

News

A man for the membership

Cass County Electric Cooperative CEO Marshal Albright will retire in April after 37 years of service.

Features

The puck stops here – in Hockeytown USA®

NorthStream Fiber and Minnkota Power Cooperative joined the community of Warroad in preparations for Hockey Day Minnesota 2024.

Our Power

No time to freeze

Minnkota Power Cooperative and Cass County Electric Cooperative recently battled the effects of a rare Christmas ice storm.

Our Power

The best stress test

Minnkota and its members had an opportunity to prepare for the worst during the national GridEx event.

Our Power

Welcoming Walle

Minnkota’s new transmission substation will both fortify power reliability and support regional load growth.

Technology

‘Critical’ opportunity for North Dakota

Minnkota Power Cooperative is joining industry research partners in capitalizing on rare earth elements.

News

Leader of the cooperative family

North Star Electric Cooperative has named co-op veteran Kevin Holen as its new general manager.

News

Two million reasons to celebrate

Minnkota’s Safety manager attributes a milestone of 2 million hours with no lost-time injuries to a culture of openness.

Features

Matriarch of the herd

Beltrami Electric Cooperative member Rachel Gray and her family have received regional honors for agricultural leadership in Minnesota.

News

'The math does not add up' on EPA carbon proposal

A new EPA power plant proposal could put grid reliability at risk.

News

Stronger together

Minnkota Power Cooperative and its member-owners have extended their wholesale power contracts.

Community

Minnkota Cares raises $3,947 for local causes

The Minnkota employee giving fund filled up with donations as donors filled up with ice cream.

Features

The lineworkers of the lake

The many challenges of Roseau Electric Cooperative's waterlocked Northwest Angle territory are overcome with grit – and a lot of gratitude.

Our Power

The quest for continuous improvement

Minnkota hosted its first industry peer review in June, welcoming energy experts from across North America.

Our Power

Energy for every season

Minnkota and its energy marketing team are prepared for the regional energy market’s new four-season approach to resource planning.

Features

Rising to the occasion

Minnkota’s Emergency Rescue Team recently used its unique rope training to safely lower an injured contractor from a 40-foot scaffold.

Features

Highway 75 hero

This winter, a Red River Valley Co-op Power lineworker showed courage and calm while assisting an expectant mother following rollover crash.

News

Andrew Freeman Competition team takes the cake

Minnkota Power Cooperative has recognized the UND engineering students behind the “Batter Shaker” as its annual innovation contest winners.

News

Minnkota receives communications honors from NRECA

Minnkota's Communications department has been recognized for its 2022 work in video marketing, animation and photography.

Our Power

Teamwork at its height

Photos from a recent sky-high transmission project illustrate the challenges overcome by Minnkota’s dedicated line crews.

Community

Hairnets and helping hands

Minnkota hosts third Feed My Starving Children event at its Grand Forks headquarters.

Features

A cut above the rest

The new Bemidji Steel Company facility has helped to put a laser focus on the benefits of doing business in Beltrami Electric Cooperative territory.

News

Powering the journey ahead

Minnkota held its 83rd annual meeting on March 31, on the cusp of incredible industry transformation.

News

From 10-gallon hats to 10,000 lakes

Texas native Mike Wade is bringing his vast industry experience to Wild Rice Electric Cooperative as their new CEO.

Features

Putting the power in powersports

Arctic Cat is strengthening its legacy in Thief River Falls with diverse employee opportunities and continual product innovation.

Our Power

The full picture of reliability

Infrared camera technology serves an important role in Minnkota’s multipronged preventative maintenance plan.

News

Nation’s electric grid could face winter challenges

A recent NERC assessment says risks grow with the retirement of coal and nuclear generation.

Our Power

Major outage insight

Minnkota’s Young Station team has successfully navigated another lengthy maintenance outage with planning and teamwork.

News

Locally grown leadership

As PKM Electric Cooperative CEO Mike Schmidt retires, protégé Jeff Rustad will become the co-op's new leader in 2023.

News

2023 rates projected to be stable for sixth straight year

Minnkota Power Cooperative will keep its wholesale electricity rates flat amid national and global economic instability.

Features

Family, farming, and feeding carb cravings

Three Farm Daughters has created a pasta empire within Nodak Electric Cooperative’s rural footprint.

Our Power

Pecking disorder

A transmission line rebuilt by Minnkota Power Cooperative will be protected from woodpecker-caused challenges.

Features

A circle of benefits from Minnesota milk

State-of-the-art Waukon Dairy is producing gallons of opportunity in Wild Rice Electric Cooperative territory.

Features

Living great in the 218

Greater Bemidji’s relocation program is attracting telecommuters to Beltrami Electric Cooperative’s service area.

Community

Food for the community, food for the soul

The Rural Access Distribution (RAD) Cooperative is combatting North Dakota grocery store closures with some small-town collaboration.

Features

Harnessing the grit of the grass

A Red River Valley Co-op Power business member is using native landscaping to improve the ecology of the prairie.

News

Minnkota, NRECA CEOs publish op-ed on reliability

Minnkota CEO Mac McLennan and NRECA CEO Jim Matheson published a joint opinion column focused on projected grid challenges and what can be done to maintain electric reliability.

News

Sounding the alarm on grid reliability

National grid operators and regulators are warning that North Dakota and Minnesota may be at risk of power outages this summer.

News

‘A culture of compliance’

Minnkota has logged another successful NERC audit thanks to the cooperative's strong leadership and proactive planning.

News

Community and cooperative connector

Marty Tetrault has taken another step into service as Cavalier Rural Electric’s newest general manager.

Technology

Bringing the heat in the glass industry

Fargo’s Cardinal IG glass plant has found growing power in its partnership with Cass County Electric Cooperative.

News

Minnkota Communications team collects national awards

Minnkota was recently honored with two NRECA Spotlight on Excellence awards for its digital and written communication efforts in 2021.

News

Resilient By Design

On April 1, Minnkota held its first in-person annual meeting in nearly three years. The meeting’s theme, Resilient By Design, recognized how Minnkota persevered through the pandemic, volatile energy market conditions and rapid industry change.

Our Power

A bear of a line project

Minnkota’s Power Delivery crews need to overcome many challenges to complete work on a unique northern Minnesota landscape.

Our Power

The wrath of the Red

Twenty-five years after the historic 1997 ice storm and flood, current Minnkota employees reflected on the natural disasters that tested the resilience of the cooperative.

Community

A place for volts and vitamins

Minnkota joins community partners to host Grand Forks Feed My Starving Children MobilePack event for a second year.

Features

Ahead of the herd

IDEA Competition winner MUSKOX has taken snow blower innovation by the horns in northwest Minnesota.

News

Grid operators, regulators forecast reliability risks

The evolving energy transition represents challenges and opportunities for Minnkota and the industry as a whole.

Features

The ice (and nice) is stronger here

Brutal winter conditions won’t keep the community of Warroad, Minn., from a second year of Riverbend Skate Path fame.

Community

The Digi-Key difference

A major facility expansion will allow an electronics distribution company to thrive within its rural Minnesota community.

Features

Minnkota shows grit and growth during GridEx

A nationwide exercise has become one of the best ways for employees to prepare for the worst.

Our Power

‘Keep calm and outage on’

Milton R. Young Station employees have once again used a major planned outage to keep Unit 1 strong and reliable.

Features

The lineworker treatment

Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative recently created a dream experience for a young power enthusiast diagnosed with leukemia.

Our Power

Reliable power for reliable packages

The FAR1 Amazon Fulfillment Center has become the latest Cass County Electric Cooperative member in a growing Fargo community.

Features

Fresh power in the old power plant

A new Grand Forks research facility is unearthing an energy future in Minnkota’s energy past.

Community

Hard hats and fire helmets

Red Lake Electric Cooperative boasts six employees on the local volunteer fire department.

Community

Minnkota celebrates Drive Electric Week with co-op partners

Two EV ride-and-drive events drew crowds to electric cooperatives in Bemidji and Roseau, Minn., during National Drive Electric Week.

Technology

Collaborate, innovate, cultivate, repeat

The Fargo-based Grand Farm initiative is leveraging local and global partners to electrify the future of agriculture.

Community

Minnkota and CoBank team up to “Share Success”

Minnkota Power Cooperative and Square Butte Electric Cooperative donated $20,000 to local programs as a part of CoBank's matched giving program.

News

Successful sessions

Minnkota and its cooperative members are celebrating major energy legislation recently passed in North Dakota and Minnesota.

Our Power

Substation communication revolution

Minnkota's system-wide deployment of distribution automation technology is rapidly enhancing response and reliability.

News

Compton ready to answer the call

North Star Electric Cooperative’s new general manager is committed to transparency and accessibility.

Features

From zero to EV

Auto dealers and co-ops are merging new models, more chargers and incentives to accelerate electric vehicle growth in the north.

News

Student engineers recognized in annual Freeman Competition

Minnkota continued its support of up-and-coming innovators with the 2021 Andrew Freeman Design Innovation Competition.

News

Built for service

Roseau Electric Cooperative is expanding its fiber-to-the-home network to more rural members and the City of Roseau.

Features

Recipe for success

Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative’s Deanna Lefebvre has been chosen to lead as the next general manager.

Features

Clear leadership

Bruce Bjerke has retired after 15 years as Clearwater-Polk Electric Cooperative’s general manager.

News

We power on

Minnkota Power Cooperative and Square Butte Electric Cooperative annual meetings reflect on a 2020 navigated with resiliency.

Our Power

Power over the market

Minnkota's energy marketers combined the cooperative's reliable resources and demand response program to avoid a cold-weather crisis.

Features

Popping into business

A North Dakota farm family has built a packaging company to support the local economy, give back to the community and create a generational legacy.

Community

Minnkota Jeans Day Fund gives big on Giving Hearts Day

Minnkota's Grand Forks employees used an annual February giving event to make their donations dollars go further.

Technology

Finding injection perfection

The latest Project Tundra simulations show promising properties for CO2 injection and storage near Minnkota's Milton R. Young Station.

Features

North Star's guiding light

After a 43-year cooperative career, North Star Electric’s Ann Ellis is setting a new course – retirement.

Features

Buyer beware

Minnkota has strengthened its supply chain to navigate COVID-19 and new cybersecurity standards.

Features

Advocacy from afar

Virtual meetings have kept Minnkota engaged with lawmakers in advance of important legislative sessions.

Technology

Syncing the sound

From innovative engineering to flawless work in the field, Minnkota is working to enhance and improve its demand response system.

News

Dolan to lead Wild Rice Electric

Wild Rice Electric Cooperative’s new CEO brings more than two decades of co-op experience.

Features

A legacy of loyalty

Wild Rice Electric Cooperative CEO Steve Haaven has retired after 47 years of service to members.

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