Tait has been awarded a major utilities project contract by Basin Electric Power Cooperative, a regional, consumer-owned wholesale power supplier headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota.

The project replaces Basin Electric's existing conventional radio systems with a new trunked radio system that will better serve its transmission and generation facilities. Tait's MPT 1327 trunked system will be put in place to cover Basin Electric's service territory and will include the use of Tait repeaters as well as Tait mobile, portable, fixed-base field units and Line Despatch Terminals.

In support of its generation and transmission systems, Basin Electric required a new, updated radio system for each of its three major generation facilities as well as its Transmission Systems Maintenance (TSM) group, which is responsible for maintaining Basin Electric's high-voltage transmission towers and lines.

The cooperative owns 2,882 kilometres and maintains 3,005 kilometres of transmission. With these systems being crucial in covering Basin Electric's entire operations area, it was determined that a new consolidated multi-site trunked system in the UHF band would be the most reliable and cost effective solution.

"Basin Electric's selection of Tait for this project is another example of Tait's emerging position as the leading radio communications supplier for the utility market."

- Bill Fredrickson, President of Tait Radio Communications, Inc.

According to Dave Wolf, Basin Electric telecommunications superintendent, the existing TSM and power plant radio systems have been in service for 30 years. Over that time, the transmission system has expanded into areas without radio or cell phone coverage.

"In these areas, crews have been unreachable when working on the transmission system, the Wyoming TSM radio system isn't compatible with North Dakota and South Dakota TSM radios; it has been difficult for these crews to work together on transmission repair," says Wolf.

Boyd Trester, Basin Electric senior electrical engineer, said the new system will allow TSM crews to seamlessly travel throughout Basin Electric's radio coverage area.

"The radios will automatically register and de-register at tower sites as the user travels down the road," says Trester. "To make a call, the user will simply select the unit or group they want to call and key up the radio. It's similar to using a cell phone."

The new radio system will initially include 49 repeater/tower sites and approximately 500 field units, including mobile and portable radios. The majority of the repeater/tower sites are existing Basin Electric towers spread out in five states.

Basin Electric is one of the largest electric generation and transmission (G&T) cooperatives in the United States. Basin Electric generates and transmits energy to 120 member rural electric systems in nine states that include North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado and New Mexico.

These member systems distribute electricity to approximately 1.8 million people and encompass 692,000 square kilometres. The region's cooperatives incorporated Basin Electric in 1961 to plan, design, construct and operate the generation and transmission facilities required to meet future electricity needs of their member-owners. Basin Electric operates generating facilities in North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming with a combined capacity of 3,412 megawatts (MW).

"Basin Electric's selection of Tait for this project is another example of Tait's emerging position as the leading radio communications supplier for the utility market," says Bill Fredrickson, President of Tait Radio Communications, Inc.