Annual Energy Trail Tours Offer Decades of Education

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More than 130 electric cooperative member-owners from western and north-central Iowa participated in this year’s Energy Trail Tour, a three-day educational experience exploring how electricity is generated and delivered. The 2026 tours, departing from NIPCO’s headquarters in Le Mars in late June and July, took participants through the Dakotas to visit key facilities operated by Basin Electric Power Cooperative and Western Area Power Administration (WAPA). 2026 marks the 37^th anniversary of the Energy Trail Tour as a three-day experience offered to members of the NIPCO and Corn Belt Power Cooperative systems.

Along the route, members explored power supply and delivery from a diverse energy mix, including hydroelectric generation at Big Bend Dam in Fort Thompson, South Dakota, to coal-based generation at Antelope Valley Station and lignite coal production at the Freedom Mine near Beulah, North Dakota. Tour participants also learned about wind energy and the production of synthetic natural gas and valuable byproducts at the Great Plains Synfuels Plant in Beulah.

Beyond the technical learning, the tour reinforced the cooperative difference—highlighting the history, principles, and community focus that set electric cooperatives apart from other utilities.

Participants also enjoyed educational and entertaining stops that showcased non-energy points of interest throughout the Dakotas.

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  NIPCO Director Dennis Lindberg accompanies participants on a tour to a hydro-electric dam circa 1959

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  Co-op member-consumers boarding a charter bus in 1988 for the first 3-day Energy Trail Tour excursio

NIPCO has hosted Energy Tours since 1954, when early participants traveled to Fort Randall Dam, a hydroelectric facility along the Missouri River that supplied power to member cooperatives across western Iowa. In 1988, the single-day excursions evolved into the current three-day format, featuring stops at Oahe Dam and Power House, Basin Electric’s Antelope Valley Station, and Coteau Properties Co. Freedom Mine. Today, with approximately 20 percent of NIPCO’s power supplied through hydropower marketed by the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and 80 percent provided by Basin Electric Power Cooperative, headquartered in Bismarck, North Dakota, tour participants gain firsthand insight into the diverse energy resources and extensive infrastructure required to deliver reliable electricity every day through an all-of-the-above energy mix

Annual tours are sponsored by Iowa generation and transmission power cooperatives NIPCO and Corn Belt Power Cooperative. 2027 tour dates have been set for June 16-18, June 23-25, and July 14-16.

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