Production Support:
Joanie Powers
Gary Robinson
Photographers:
Derek Baune
Jamie Brost
Alissa Byrd
Angie Christiansen
BJ Cope
Amy Grisak
Noah Kimuyukilonzo
Erin Madison
ExplorationWorks
Susan Malee
Pat Patterson
Josh Peck
Jeff Quam
Cassie Scheidecker
Amie Thompson
Contributing
Writers:
Jo Dee Black
Brian Bird
Alissa Byrd
Amy Grisak
Kevin Holden
Butch Larcombe
Erin Madison
COVER ART
“Around the clock”
by Derek Baune, Miles West Creative
Miles West Creative was born out of a love of honest stories that are inspired by real people and the lifestyle and landscape that shapes them. Follow Derek’s work on Instagram @mileswestcreative.
Our latest natural gas-fired power plants provide reliable energy and an economic boost to local communities.
We are committed to achieving net zero emissions companywide by 2050.
More electric cars mean more demand for electricity, and we have been working to make sure we’ll be able to meet that demand.
Our advanced meter infrastructure upgrade allows us to detect problems in our electrical system before they cause a power outage.
By upgrading our hydro facilities, we’re able to produce more carbon-free energy with minimal impacts.
Noah Kimuyukilonzo taught himself web design and creation so he could help raise awareness of the Kalawa Library and School Project.
When we flip on a light switch or hear our furnace kick on, most of us give little thought to the decades of invention and innovation that allow us to take these creature comforts for granted.
Energy companies have a long history of improving the quality of life for our communities. From Thomas Edison’s founding of the first electric company in 1880 to the electrification of America throughout the early 20th century to the addition of wind and solar generation in the 1980s, energy companies have been at the forefront of advancing some of society’s most impactful technology.
Today, we continue that long history of innovation by continuing to explore new ways to deliver safe, reliable and affordable electric and natural gas service. This issue of Bright magazine shares stories of the innovative work we’re doing at NorthWestern Energy. We know electric and natural gas service are so commonplace that most customers probably give them little thought. However, NorthWestern Energy is constantly innovating. This issue offers a peek behind the curtain, a look at the new technology we’re using to make sure our customers’ homes stay warm and bright, while using the safest and most cost-effective technology available.
We’re in the process of upgrading every electric and gas meter in our service territory to new technology that will allow us to detect problems before they cause outages. We’re preparing for an increase in electric vehicle adoption in our service area that comes with the need for new charging infrastructure and generation capacity to meet the rising electric demand. In the photo to the right, I’m visiting Yellowstone National Park with my family. Next time we go, it’s likely we’ll travel by electric vehicle. We’re even finding ways to use robotic technology to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks.
Perhaps one of our most exciting innovations is our announcement that we will achieve carbon neutrality in our electric and natural gas operations by 2050. Reaching this goal will require forward-looking innovations over the next three decades. Already, our total portfolio of electric generation is 56% carbon-free, which is higher than the national electric industry average of about 40%, but more must be done.
On the electric side of our business, we are proud of our diverse generation fleet of hydro, wind, natural gas and coal resources. Over time, our coal-fired plants will be retired and our natural gas plants will be used less as new cleaner, cost-effective and innovative resources become available. We have numerous pilot projects to test some of these emerging solutions.
On the natural gas side of our business, our system already has a leak-per-mile rate that is better than the industry average thanks to our investments in pipe infrastructure and leak-detection capabilities. We will continue to replace aging pipelines and find new, innovative solutions for leak detection. We will also work with our customers on energy-efficiency projects to reduce the amount of natural gas and electricity needed.
Read more about our net zero commitment on Pages 10-13.
We have the tremendous honor to be the stewards of the critical energy infrastructure that delivers safe and reliable energy to our region.
In the 100-plus years we’ve served our service territory, we’ve made countless improvements to the way we generate and deliver energy. We’re committed to continuing these innovations for the next 100 years and beyond.
Brian Bird President and Chief Operating Officer, NorthWestern EnergyWe love hearing from our readers. We welcome all your comments, questions and letters to the editor. We’ll edit letters as needed for accuracy, style and length, and we will feature letters in future issues.
Write us at:
Bright Magazine
NorthWestern Energy
11 E. Park St. Butte, MT 59701
Or email us at: bright@northwestern.com
Your magazine provides a great update on many effective hydro stewardship projects. It was fun to read as I sip hot coffee near the blazing pellet stove, at home, on a snowy Missoula winter day, knowing that all is well and in good hands. Congrats on your continued success and resource partnerships in stewarding our Montana rivers.
Thanks for the environment issue of Bright I recently received. Every page was interesting and rewarding to study. Thank you for your company’s care and concern for the environment. Such a rare treasure indeed.
Dave Slaughter, Kearney, NebraskaGrand Island: We celebrated the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, which was founded in Nebraska, by planting trees at our Grand Island office.
Jourdonnais, Missoula, MontanaRegards, Jon
Great edition! I read it from front to back last night. Keep up the good work.
John Thurmond, Butte, MontanaMilbank: NorthWestern donated $2,000 to the Grant County Combined Appeal, which then distributes funds to numerous nonprofits in Milbank.
Madison: NorthWestern Energy’s Madison employees dressed up as Vikings for a fundraiser called Winter Feast, which supports the Renaissance Festival in Sioux Falls.
Yankton: We donated $3,000 to the Missouri Sedimentation Action Coalition, a nonprofit focused on alleviating the sedimentation-caused problems of the Missouri River main-stem reservoirs.
There’s so much to celebrate in our region! Here are some highlights from across our service territory (shaded in teal).
Missoula: Garrett Smith, Safety & Environmental Professional for NorthWestern, instructed an electrical safety class at SafetyFestMT in Missoula. SafetyFestMT provides free safety training to employers and employees to reduce workplace injuries in Montana.
Missoula and Warm Springs: NorthWestern Energy employees participated in the Clark Fork Coalition’s annual Clark Fork River Cleanup in the Missoula and Warm Springs areas on Earth Day. We recognized our employees’ volunteerism with a donation of $2,000 to the Clark Fork Coalition.
Helena: Each year, Carroll College recognizes young women graduating from high school who want to go into STEM fields, as part of an effort to encourage more women to choose careers in technology. NorthWestern Energy is proud to partner with Carroll College and the National Center for Women & Information Technology to sponsor these awards.
Butte: NorthWestern Energy sponsored Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for the Butte Emergency Food Bank. We’ve been supporting this event since its inception eight years ago. In addition to our monetary sponsorship, five NorthWestern employees volunteered at the event.
Butte: In 1987, the Butte High Altitude Speed Skating Center was completed to serve as a training center for elite speed skaters destined for the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Today, thanks to dedicated Butte residents, including Dr. Dave Silk, an emergency room doctor in Butte, the center has transformed into a community skating rink where families can skate for free. NorthWestern Energy recently purchased 30 pairs of skates. As the number of skaters has grown, the availability of rental skates became a problem. These skates will help the center continue to offer affordable rental skates.
Great Falls: We made a $500 donation to the Alliance for Youth to support the remodel of the new Youth Resource Center, a drop-in center for homeless and disadvantaged youth.
Great Falls: We donated $500 to the Great Falls College MSU Regional Science and Engineering Fair, an event for elementary, middle and high school students from across northcentral Montana.
Bozeman: NorthWestern Energy had a booth at the Women in Engineering event at Montana State University in March. For the eighth year, Brandi Hellwinkel, Superintendent of System Integrity, organized and staffed the booth. She was joined by her young daughter (who says she wants to be an engineer “like mom”); Alex Maruska, a new Engineer in the Bozeman Division; and Board Member Britt Ide.
Belgrade: Mike Meis, NorthWestern Energy Director of Operation Technology, was awarded the 2022 Spirit of the Community Award by the Belgrade Chamber of Commerce. Mike is a past board of director and served as Belgrade Chamber of Commerce Board president in 2019. He is active with the Economic Development Committee and volunteers at Fall Festival and other Chamber events, in addition to coordinating the hanging and take down of the Christmas swags in Belgrade.
Billings: We are sponsoring a dance team for Big Sky Senior Services’ Dancing with the Big Sky Stars. Dancing with the Big Sky Stars is a virtual event this year with videos of teams’ dances released May 14. The event raises funds for Big Sky Senior Services, which provides services to senior citizens to promote independence, enhance quality of life and prevent elder abuse.
Bozeman: We were the sponsor for Montana Ballet Company’s “Share the Dance” program for “Snow White” performances in February. “Share the Dance” enables low-income kids to attend the ballet.
Three years ago, I was having a thoughtful and engaging conversation with a group of fellow NorthWestern Energy employees. While we were talking, many of us were sipping coffee or water from Styrofoam coffee cups.
A comment was made – why, in 2019, are we using Styrofoam coffee cups? Why is a company that is so environmentally conscience using single-use cups and other wasteful items? We started looking around the room that was hosting a large group of people. We had plastic utensils, Styrofoam cups, plastic water bottles … the list goes on.
All of these single-use items go directly into the landfill, many of which take hundreds of years to decompose. We conversed about the numerous meetings that take place in any given year, all of the events the company sponsors. We generate a lot of waste, and we don’t think twice about throwing it in the trash without understanding the consequences.
From that conversation and those observations an idea was born –NorthWestern Energy could integrate environmental considerations into our purchasing and procurement process.
The group of us chatting about disposable coffee cups was part of Leadership NorthWestern. This valuable program brings together employees from various areas of the company and from each of the three states we operate in. Doing so provides an opportunity to learn what makes this company function.
As part of this amazing experience, employees are split into teams and are tasked with developing group projects. My group was the Envi-
ronmental Team, and our assignment was “to identify and research a current or key environmental issue facing NorthWestern Energy and develop a strategy to address it.”
With support from our leadership mentor, Mary Gail Sullivan, Director of Environmental & Lands Permitting & Compliance, we brainstormed for hours and kicked around various ideas. What would be a great and value-added project? Idea after idea, none gave us the excitement or intrigue we’d want to invest countless hours in – until we landed on the idea of developing sustainable procurement standards.
The self-proclaimed “Green Team” got to work on advancing the protection of the environment by integrating environmental considerations into the purchasing and procurement decision-making process and finding ways to mitigate NorthWestern Energy’s impact on local environments by adopting eco-friendly products and practices.
We expanded our vision from eliminating single-use items to include the installation of water bottle filling stations in our office spaces, a website for each of our states with recycling opportunities for our employees, awareness posters for our facilities, guidelines for procurement practices and best practices for company events. In short, we wanted to develop and promote a campaign to drive sustainable cultural changes at NorthWestern Energy.
Now in 2022, the fruits of our efforts are becoming a reality. Reduce, reuse, rethink is alive and beginning to take hold. NorthWestern has officially adopted the Sustainable Procurement and Practices guidelines we developed.
Not only are we “Delivering a Bright Future,” our team is excited to say we are working toward “Delivering a Bright and GREEN Future!”
Kevin Holden is Manager of HR Systems and Analytics for NorthWestern Energy based in Great Falls, Montana.
Office and Building
Supplies: Purchase recycled content products and avoid purchasing items that cannot be reused.
Technology Equipment: Standardize business technology equipment and develop reuse/ recycling programs.
Single-Use Plastic Products: Avoid purchasing or using single-use plastic products.
Furniture: Maintain furniture currently in service as long as possible and donate it at end of life.
Cleaning Products: Choose eco-friendly cleaning products that are safe and biodegradable whenever possible.
Energy Conservation: Strive to reduce unnecessary energy use in our offices and work locations.
Office Equipment and Appliances: Choose energy-efficient and water-efficient products.
Recycling: Reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills by recycling as many products as reasonably possible.
Whether running reports or processing customer account data, certain tasks take a lot of “clicks.”
“Clicks are manual repetitive tasks that do not require much analysis,” explained Amber Osterman, NorthWestern Energy Director of Application Architecture, Automation and Product Delivery.
In 2019, NorthWestern Energy started a test pilot to figure out how to automate some of these repetitive tasks. For the pilot, our Business Technology team partnered with the Financial Planning and Analysis team to create an automated process to run an expense report from our enterprise resource planning system. The report was previously compiled by an employee who had to run a report in one program, download it to Excel and then manipulate the data.
“It was a significant timesaver for running just one report,” Amber said.
From there, we created a Robotic Process Automation program, also known as our RPA Bot program. We’ve now implemented nine bots, with one more in final testing and three in development. All of these bots automate repetitive processes. With the
Our Business Technology department implements new programs, based on the technology roadmap, which lays out our planned technology advancements across the company in the next four years. The roadmap outlines plans including supply plan projects, finance system enhancements, digital meter upgrades and more.
bots we’ve developed so far, we save 512 hours per year.
The goal of the RPA Bot program is to free up employees’ time from repetitive tasks so they can focus on tasks that require higher-level thinking, explained Stephanie Norman, Manager of DEV Ops and Database Support.
For example, one of our bots removes closed accounts for our Customer Care Billing team. It previously took about an hour a day to complete this process manually. A bot now allows us to complete that process without any human intervention.
These bots aren’t robots, like you might picture them.
“Basically, it’s code,” Stephanie said.
The bots are scheduled to run at certain times and don’t require any manual intervention.
Amber and Stephanie expect our bot program to continue to grow. They’ve already identified 10 more tasks that could be automated.
“In the long run, there’s a lot of opportunity for time savings,” Stephanie said.
bots currently in production.
bots currently being developed.
bots are currently in the backlog.
bot in final testing. 1 hours saved per year. 512
Over the past 100 years, NorthWestern Energy has maintained our commitment to providing customers with reliable and affordable electric and natural gas service while also being good stewards of the environment. We have responded to climate change, its implications and risks, by increasing our environmental sustainability efforts and our access to clean energy resources. But more must be done.
NorthWestern Energy recently announced our commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
“NorthWestern Energy begins this transition to an even cleaner energy future building on the considerable progress we have already made,” said Brian Bird, NorthWestern Energy President and Chief Operating Officer. “Our total portfolio of electric generation is 56% carbon-free, which is higher than the electric utility average of about 40%.”
Our net zero vision outlines a plan that will continue to serve our customers with reliable, affordable energy, while deploying new, clean technology as it becomes available and cost-effective.
“While staying true to our core responsibilities, we are also committing to achieve carbon neutrality in our electric and natural gas operations by 2050,” said NorthWestern Energy CEO Bob Rowe. “This will allow us to do our part, as a relatively small company serving a large and dynamic region, to help achieve the goal of limiting the global temperature increase to less than 2° Celsius.”
Continue transition to a carbon‑free portfolio.
Replace aging pipe and other infrastructure to minimize leaks.
Enhance energy efficiency programs and expand green energy offerings.
Gas plants needed to offset intermittency of renewable energy and will ultimately transition to peak load only.
Use technology to improve leak detection and expand plant emission monitoring.
Convert fleet to electric over time and develop infrastructure to support EVs.
Retire coal plants when no longer cost effective.
of Alternative Fuels
Renewable natural gas and/ or hydrogen.
Utilize carbon offsets as necessary.
We’re required to provide the reliability and affordability to our customers, and do it sustainably. We need to do what’s best for our customers and stakeholders, and that’s exactly what we’re
- Brian Bird, NorthWestern Energy President and Chief Operating Officer
doing.
“
While some other utilities are promising to reach net zero emissions sooner, we chose 2050 as our goal to ensure we’re adopting new technology once it’s operationally sound and cost-effective.
“At the end of the day, we’re required to provide the reliability and affordability to our customers, and do it sustainably,” Brian said. “We need to do what’s best for our customers and stakeholders, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Our electric emissions reduction plan balances customer affordability, reliability and our commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability. After 2035, we plan to add no new carbon-emitting resources to our portfolio.
“We are stewards of over $7 billion of critical natural gas and electric infrastructure,” Bob said. “We will do nothing to jeopardize reliable service to our customers. This February’s weather reminded us how important reliable service is, not just to the comfort but to the safety of our customers and the communities we serve. Partnerships and support must be part of this plan. We believe the goal is achievable by 2050. If technology and policy support allow us to accelerate our timeline, we will, as we all work together toward an even cleaner energy future.”
NorthWestern Energy added 850 megawatts of carbon-free generation between 2014 and 2020. Our electric generation portfolio is currently about one-third hydro, one-third wind and one-third thermal.
“That’s a great balanced portfolio until we get to the point where it’s more cost effective to add more carbon-free resources,” Brian said.
Our natural gas emissions reduction plan will reduce methane emissions by 30% – more than 4,000 metric tons or the equivalent of
removing about 22,000 vehicles from the road for a year or preserving more than 122,000 acres of forest – by 2030 and ultimately operate a net zero methane emission gas delivery system by 2050.
“Our natural gas system has a leak-per-mile rate that is better than the industry average thanks to our investments in pipe infrastructure and leak-detection capabilities,” Brian said.
To reach net zero by 2050, we will continue improving our operations with advanced technologies not widely available today and will explore using cleaner fuels such as renewable natural gas. In addition, if any emissions remain after these efforts, we will deploy carbon credits as an offset to achieve net zero.
“We have the tremendous honor to be the stewards of the critical energy infrastructure that delivers safe and reliable energy to our region,” Brian said. “Now is the time to raise the bar and start the transition to net zero 2050.”
Read our complete Net Zero by 2050 plan at NorthWesternEnergy.com/netzero.
Includes resourcesfrom
the 2020 Montana RFP (Beartooth battery and PowerEx contract) Resources from the RFP are currently under construction and total 325 MW
When we broke ground on the Bob Glanzer Generating Station in 2020, Huron, South Dakota, like most communities across the country, had turned into a ghost town due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tourism dried up, stores struggled and many restaurants nearly closed their doors. However, during this difficult time, construction at the Bob Glanzer Generating Station helped keep the Huron economy afloat.
During the peak of construction, more than 150 workers were employed at the plant.
“The construction workers stayed in hotels and ate at local restaurants,” said Tom Glanzer, NorthWestern Energy Community Relations Manager based in Huron. “The owner of a local shoe store said he became an expert in procuring and selling the specific work boots required by the contractors working on the plant.”
When NorthWestern Energy was planning the gas-fired generation plant in Huron, we didn’t expect it to be under construction during a pandemic.
“The timing worked out well that we were able to boost the local economy during a very difficult time,” Tom said.
The new plant, which officially goes online in May, will continue to provide important benefits to Huron and our entire South Dakota service territory. The 58-megawatt natural gas plant will be an important gener-
ation asset to help mitigate capacity deficits like those we experienced in February 2021, when we had to ask customers to conserve energy in order to prevent rolling blackouts.
“From a community perspective, NorthWestern Energy is the type of dedicated business that all communities wish they would have,” said Laurie Shelton, President and CEO of the Huron Chamber of Commerce. “The economic impact they have had on Huron with the construction of the Bob Glanzer Generating Station has been immeasurable. They are looking forward to the future of energy for our region and being fiscally responsible with the investment in clean energy.”
The construction cost of the Bob Glanzer Generating Station is estimated to be around $80 million, which represents a huge influx of spending in the Huron area.
NorthWestern Energy has committed to net zero emissions by 2050, and the critical generation capacity from BGGS will play an important part in helping us reach that goal. The new plant will provide on-demand electric capacity and also support the variability of wind and solar generation. These on-demand resources are critical until longer-duration, carbon-free resources are developed and cost effective.
NorthWestern Energy will soon begin construction on a similar generation plant in Montana. The 175-megawatt Yellowstone County
Generating Station will provide on-demand electric capacity and also help balance the variable generation provided by wind and solar resources.
“These two generation projects will provide increased reliability for our customers and decrease risk associated with market volatility,” said NorthWestern Energy CEO Bob Rowe.
Both the Bob Glanzer and Yellowstone County generating stations will feature reciprocating engine generators that have a low heat rate over the full operating range, which means it takes less fuel to generate the same amount of electricity. The emissions from these units are low thanks to selective catalytic reduction technology, which can reduce emissions by as much as 95%. Both BGGS and YCGS will exclusively use pipeline-quality natural gas, which is low in sulfur content.
The Bob Glanzer Generating Station in Huron is named in honor of the late South Dakota State Rep. Bob Glanzer. Bob Glanzer, the father of Tom Glanzer, was a high school teacher and coach before becoming the manager of the South Dakota State Fair in 1975. He went on to a successful banking career, retiring in 2012.
In 2016, Bob was elected to the South Dakota House, a public service seat he held at the time of his death on April 3, 2020, at 74 from COVID-19 complications.
Rep. Glanzer worked quietly in the background for community and economic development in the Huron area, but was willing to accelerate his efforts and visibility when needed, Bob Rowe said.
“We are proud to be a part of South Dakota, and to invest in the critical infrastructure that will meet South Dakota’s needs for many decades to come,” Bob Rowe added. “We couldn’t do this without an exceptional partnership with South Dakota and with communities, including Huron.”
The new Bob Glanzer Generating Station is located adjacent to a new industrial park in Huron. Reliable electric service will be critical for the large industrial businesses in the park.
“The Bob Glanzer Generating Station represents an investment by NorthWestern Energy that will benefit the city of Huron for decades to come with a reliable and affordable source of locally produced clean energy,” said Ted Haeder, President and CEO of Greater Huron Development Corporation. “The project being located next to Huron’s newest industrial park, Vantage Business Park, will provide new or expanding businesses with the assurance that their time lost to electrical outages will be virtually non-existent. NorthWestern Energy has always played a vital role in Greater Huron’s economic development efforts, and we look forward to partnering with them on future business expansion efforts.”
NorthWestern Energy’s latest natural gas-fired power plants provide reliable energy and an economic boost to local communities. Our new $80 million Bob Glanzer Generation Station, near Huron, South Dakota, helps us mitigate capacity deficits like those we experienced in February 2021.
Anyone who watched the 2022 Super Bowl knows car manufacturers are investing heavily in electric vehicles.
“Just about every other Super Bowl commercial was for a new model of an electric car,” said Dan Rausch, Treasurer and Corporate Development Officer for NorthWestern Energy.
Dan expects nearly all new car offerings to be electric by the late 2020s.
“We’re not that far away from the prepon derance of all new cars being electric,” he said. ”It’s changing, and it’s changing in a hurry.”
Used cars, of course, will still be avail able with traditional gas or diesel engines.
More electric cars mean more demand for electricity, and at North Western Energy, Dan and his team have been working to make sure we’ll be able to meet that demand. Every electric car uses between 150 to 300 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.
“Our challenge for corridor charging will be to make sure we have power available and sufficient EV charging ports in our service territory,” Dan said.
NorthWest ern Energy has begun
Montana Highway 200 crosses the Blackfoot River east of Missoula, Montana.
to install electric vehicle, or EV, charging stations across our service territory. This year, we are in the process of installing two high-speed charging stations in Mitchell and Chamberlain, South Dakota. We previously installed two charging stations in Missoula, Montana.
We’ve also partnered with Town Pump, a Montana-based gas station and convince store chain, to install charging stations at nine Town Pump locations across the state. Each location will have one high-speed and one Level 2 charger.
These charging stations are mainly used by out-of-state drivers who are passing through, maybe to Mount Rushmore in South Dakota or Glacier and Yellowstone national parks in Montana. Charging stations have electronic payment options, similar to a gas pump, allowing drivers to pay to charge their cars.
NorthWestern also supplies the electricity to power nine different Tesla charging stations in Montana and one in South Dakota.
We’re working to make sure we can meet the demand for electricity as more of our local customers begin charging EVs at home. Most, if not all, electric vehicles come with a Level 1 charger that customers can plug into a standard 120-volt household outlet. These chargers are much slower than the chargers
found at gas stations or in parking lots – they take almost all night to fully charge an EV battery.
Customers in our service territory have been slower to adopt electric vehicles than in some other parts of the country. Dan expects to see an uptick in our electrical customers who own EVs and charge them at home around 2025 or 2026.
The at-home chargers can typically be set on a timer so the car won’t start charging until the middle of the night. That’s when there’s the least demand on our system, which makes it easy to supply energy for those chargers.
Level 2 and high-speed chargers are trickier, in terms of electricity supply. Because high-speed chargers are so fast, they pull a large amount of energy in a short period of time.
“That will be one of the challenges,” Dan said. “We can’t control when someone pulls up and starts charging.”
NorthWestern Energy is in the early stages of looking at those capacity issues and developing solutions. We’re also looking at the possibility of having specific tariffs for cities, school districts or other entities that might want to charge a whole fleet of electric vehicles, such as school or city buses. There’s no doubt electric vehicles will soon be commonplace, but Dan expects it won’t take long for EVs to be replaced by newer technology, possibly hydrogen-powered cars.
“I am optimistic about the growing number of electric vehicles in the next decade,” Dan said.
There are three different levels of EV charging stations, based on how quickly they can charge a vehicle and on how much power is supplied to the vehicle’s battery:
• Level 1 charging station:
120 volts
2 to 5 miles of range per 1 hour of charging
Most electric vehicles come with a Level 1 charger that can be plugged into a standard household 120-volt outlet for charging vehicles at home. Level 1 charging stations work best for plug-in hybrid vehicles.
• Level 2 charging station:
240 to 280 volts
10 to 20 miles of range per 1 hour of charging
Level 2 chargers are commonly found at public charging loca-
tions. Many electric vehicle owners upgrade to a Level 2 charger for at-home use because it’s much faster than Level 1. These chargers plug into a 240-volt outlet, which most homes have.
• Level 3 or high-speed charging stations:
400 to 900 volts
60 to 80 miles of range per 20 minutes of charging
These fast-charging stations can take a battery from empty to full in about 20 minutes, but not all EVs can be charged that quickly. Typically higher-end cars can take advantage of high-speed chargers. Other EVs may not be compatible with these chargers.
• Tesla chargers: Most North American EVs use the same charging connector, with the exception of Tesla. Tesla cars come with an adaptor so they can use non-Tesla charging stations. But non-Tesla cars cannot use Tesla chargers.
EV charging station volumes continue to trend upward significantly. This chart shows the historical usage of the 10 Tesla chargers that receive electricity from NorthWestern Energy.
NorthWestern Energy is in the process of deploying six plug-in electric hybrid bucket trucks across our service territory. These bucket trucks range in both size and plug-in technology packages. Four of the new trucks are small buckets (40 feet) with idle mitigation and cab comfort. This technology will reduce idle time while allowing the operator to set the cab temperature to a comfortable level without idling. These new bucket trucks are headed to Helena, Bozeman, Yankton and Huron. One new 60-foot bucket with idle mitigation and cab comfort will be used in Huron.
The final truck, a 48-foot bucket for Billings Substations, will have both idle mitigation and cab comfort, in addition to Electric Power Take Off (E-PTO) technology. The E-PTO feature allows the boom to fly on the battery, reducing noise for the operator and increasing fuel savings.
All six trucks have telematics capabilities that will provide real-time data as to the battery run times, PTO run times and overall analysis of the hybrid system. This data will be used to evaluate the trucks and offer insight into the effectiveness of the system, best practices, and help provide quantitative data for future plug-in electric vehicle applications.
These new bucket trucks are part of our commitment to replace 30% of our light-duty vehicles (cars through half-ton trucks) with electric alternatives by 2030. We will also replace vehicles at the end of their life with electric alternatives. By 2030, we plan to replace 20% of new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, 30% of new bucket trucks and 100% of new forklifts with electric alternatives.
“Investing in electric technologies will reduce greenhouse gas emissions as well as fuel consumption and maintenance costs,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, NorthWestern Energy’s manager of fleet and equipment.
When Susie McIntyre road trips or runs errands, the family pooch can tag along without a need for much preplanning.
Her electric vehicle, a Tesla Model 3, includes a “dog mode” setting, providing climate control for Fido while drivers and passengers are out of the vehicle.
“The car’s screen (easily visible to passersby) has a message that says my owner will be back soon and what the temperature is inside the car,” Susie said. “We can stop for lunch and set the car to dog mode. It makes it easier to travel with pets.”
Reducing her carbon footprint is the reason the Great Falls, Montana, resident decided to buy an electric vehicle, but “dog mode” is a great perk.
“The car is so quiet and responsive,” Susie said. “I’m not really a car person, but it is fun to drive.”
In town, she charges her EV at night in her garage about every three days.
“We drive to Bozeman and Missoula before the car needs to be charged and travel to Seattle in our EV,” Susie said. “It handles well in the snow. It is a great vehicle.”
Redundant power sources are a valuable tool when it comes to delivering reliable energy service to the cities and towns we serve in Montana and South Dakota. Power can be rerouted to restore service to customers while crews work on the source of the outage.
But many of our customers in rural areas of these states live at the end of the (power)line, some literally. When there is an outage, service
can’t be restored until issues on those radial lines are resolved. Could redundancy be built into the infrastructure to increase service reliability for rural customers?
That is what the Beck Hill Microgrid, a pilot project north of Deer Lodge, Montana, that launched in 2015, was built to determine. And the answer is yes!
The microgrid includes a 40-kilowatt solar system paired with a bat-
tery. It can provide 80 kilowatts of energy for about two hours. Over the past six years, Beck Hill Microgrid provided backup power for 17 customers during about 16 outages and then returned those customers to service from the grid when it was available again.
NorthWestern Energy can now use the knowledge gained from the Beck Hill Microgrid pilot project to improve reliability for other rural customers.
In general, NorthWestern Energy’s urban customers experience power outages of one hour or less annually, compared to rural customers who experience power outages for about five to six hours annually.
“We now have experience with microgrid operations on our grid, and we are looking to scale the project to provide backup energy and ultimately increase service reliability for other rural customers,” said NorthWestern Energy Manager of System Innovation Jon Shafer.
On a recent day in Wecota, South Dakota, several electric meters reported low voltage. The alerts popped up across a wide area, in and outside of town. Left unchecked, these incidents of low voltage could have turned into a widespread outage. However, we were able to map where these alerts were occurring and realized they were all downstream of a voltage regulator bank. We replaced the failed voltage regulator, and voltage levels returned to normal.
All of this was done without any interruption to our customers. It’s unlikely any of our customers noticed any kind of a problem, nor did they know work was going on behind the scenes to keep their lights on.
The prevention of an outage in Wecota was thanks to our advanced meter upgrade that was completed in South Dakota in 2021 and is currently underway in Montana.
Our new advanced meters alert us of problems long before we would otherwise be aware of them and allow us to potentially fix problems before they cause service interruptions.
“Advanced meters allow us to find problems before customers are aware of them,” said John Thurmond, Director of Digital Customer Experience Success at NorthWestern.
In another recent incident in South Dakota, multiple meters reported high voltage situations. All of these meters were serviced off the same transformers. A NorthWestern Energy technician was dispatched and discovered two bad transformers that were replaced, and voltage was restored to normal.
Again, all of this was done before customers noticed any issues. With our old meters, those transformers would have failed eventually, and a technician would have been dispatched to replace them. However, the customers served by those transformers would have been out of power from the time the transformers failed to when they were replaced – possibly a few hours.
“Events and alarms generated by the advanced meter system can be used as a diagnostic tool to proactively identify and mitigate system-level and even premise-specific issues,” John said.
Recently, a single meter generated a low-voltage alarm showing the customer’s voltage was about half of what it should be. A technician was able to respond and repair a broken phase wire to the customer’s meter before the customer realized there was a problem.
In addition to identifying and preventing power outages, advanced meters are an important step in moving toward a sustainable energy future. The energy grid is evolving, driven by the need to support more renewable resources as we transition to an even cleaner energy future. Advanced metering provides more data on grid operations, which will allow opportunities for new customer programs and technology that will help balance the energy grid with renewable resources.
Advanced meters also provide near-real-time data for customers installing solar panels, wind turbines or other clean energy generation. Advanced meters can capture and display the energy delivered by NorthWestern Energy, the energy received from the customer’s system and calculate the net difference.
While advanced meters can measure total energy use on an interval basis, these meters are not configured to differentiate energy use at the appliance level or to identify customer activities within a home or business.
Eventually customers will be able to track their energy use on an hourly basis. (The advanced meters communicate energy usage information three times daily.) The information obtained can help customers better understand how they use energy and help them make informed decisions as a customer.
NorthWestern Energy's technology upgrade also opens the door for innovations customers and communities are asking for today. This new infrastructure could be the backbone of future services, such as remote streetlight control, time of use, prepaid metering and more. NorthWestern Energy can work with customers and communities to offer services that are not possible with our old metering technology.
Montana law allows customers to opt-out of the use of advanced metering devices according to terms and conditions set by the Montana Public Service Commission. No utility company can require the use of an advance metering device. If you have questions about your opt-out rights, please contact the Montana Public Service Commission at 1-800-646-6150.
590,000
Approximately 590,000 meters and modules will be replaced over four years, from 2021 to 2024.
95,500
Approximately 95,500 new electric meters and gas modules were replaced in South Dakota between 2018 and 2020.
In Nebraska, where we only provide natural gas service, we replaced the erts on all our gas meters. Our Nebraska meters are currently being read by a meter-reading truck that is able to collect data from the meters as it drives past them. We’re evaluating solutions to make this a fully automated process.
Our advanced meter infrastructure upgrade allows us to detect problems in our electrical system before they cause a power outage.Montana Advanced Meter Upgrade South Dakota Advanced Meter Upgrade Nebraska Advanced Meter Upgrade Scan the QR code with your phone’s camera to watch a video about our meter upgrade project.
By Erin Madison
Several years ago, NorthWestern Energy saw an opportunity to expand its natural gas service to the rapidly growing area south of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Residents and businesses in these areas did not previously have access to natural gas and instead relied on propane.
“Natural gas is extremely affordable compared to propane,” explained Tom Glanzer, Community Relations Manager for South Dakota and Nebraska. “Propane prices are very volatile.”
Even with the commodity price of natural gas rising in the past six months, natural gas is still a less-expensive heating option than electric and propane in most situations. Natural gas prices tend to be much more stable than propane and other alternative fuels.
While natural gas offers many benefits to residential customers, it can also help communities with economic development. Large manufactures and many other large businesses need natural gas for their operations and will only consider locating in communities that have natural gas.
“Some communities struggle to attract large industrial businesses because they don’t have natural gas,” said Paul Mantz, key accounts and economic development specialist for NorthWestern Energy. “Many developers and potential businesses won’t even look at a town or a piece of land if it doesn’t have natural gas or a gas line readily available.”
NorthWestern Energy’s natural gas expansion has helped businesses such as the Jack Links jerky plant in in Alpena, South Dakota, to switch from propane to natural gas, and several ethanol plants in the service territory needed the gas service agreement prior to agreeing to move to various communities.
NorthWestern Energy also supports community growth and economic development by being an active corporate citizen. NorthWestern Energy offers grants to nonprofit organizations in the communities we serve. We also contribute to local United Ways, service clubs, chambers of commerce and other local entities.
Around 2008, we built a natural gas pipeline to serve an ethanol plant in Marion, a small town located about 30 miles southwest of Sioux Falls. We found residents in nearby developments who relied on propane were interested in converting to natural gas.
In 2019, we signed a franchise agreement with Harrisburg and Tea, growing areas south of Sioux Falls, to begin serving customers in those communities. A new elementary school that opened in Harrisburg in 2021 has natural gas provided by NorthWestern Energy.
“We already had some existing natural gas infrastructure in the ground from a project to serve an ethanol plant, and that line goes directly through the area near Harrisburg and Tea that is currently being developed,” Tom said. “We wanted to be in front of the growth to support it, so it made sense to offer affordable and stable natural gas to the development plan for business and residential expansion.”
Last year, the Sioux Falls City Council approved a franchise agreement that allows us to serve natural gas to customers inside the city limits of Sioux Falls.
Going forward, NorthWestern Energy will continue to look for opportunities to expand natural gas service where it can benefit residents and businesses.
“Down the line, there may be the possibility for expansion in other parts of the state,” Paul said.
• Affordable: Annual energy costs for residential customers using natural gas has been lower than the cost for propane, fuel oil or electricity since 2010, and it's projected to stay low through 2040. U.S. consumers who use natural gas save an average of $874 on energy bills each year compared to homeowners who use electricity. https://www.aga.org/natural-gas/affordable/
• Convenient: Since natural gas is stored in pipes underground, you’ll always have a supply of natural gas. No need to worry about checking your meter and requesting delivery.
• Safe: Natural gas is safe to use, provided you use it appropriately and follow the recommended safety precautions. An odorant that we add to natural gas makes gas leaks easy to detect, and natural gas utilities spend $22 billion annually to help enhance the safety of natural gas distribution and transmission systems.
• Energy-efficient: Natural gas appliances produce more heat than traditional appliances.
• Environmentally friendly: Natural gas is the cleanest burning fossil fuel. It produces 50% less carbon dioxide than coal and 20-30% less carbon than heating oil.
• Abundant: It’s estimated that our nation has enough natural gas to meet our ever-growing energy needs for the next 100 years.
As the area south of Sioux Falls continues to grow, NorthWestern Energy is expanding its natural gas service to offer affordable energy to more residents and businesses. NorthWestern Energy crews install a new natural gas pipeline in South Dakota. We are expanding our natural gas service to Sioux Falls, Tea and Harrisburg, South Dakota.
Built in 1927, Black Eagle Dam in Great Falls, Montana, generates 21 megawatts of electricity. In 2019, we began a project to upgrade one of its three units. The maximum generation for the upgraded unit will be about 9 megawatts, compared to the old output of 7 megawatts.
By Erin Madison
The people who built these plants, I don’t think they anticipated people using them 100 years later.
- BJ Cope, NorthWestern Energy Engineer
When the Madison hydroelectric facility was built in 1905 and 1906, rotors arrived at the dam on wagons pulled by a team of horses. It’s hard to imagine the dam and powerhouse could have been engineered and built without today’s modern equipment and technology.
Those rotors that arrived via true horsepower produced electricity for more than 100 years.
Earlier this year, NorthWestern Energy completed an upgrade of the Madison Powerhouse, replacing the four generator units. This brought the generation capacity of Madison from 8 megawatts to 12, which allows us to produce more clean, carbon-free energy without building a new hydro facility.
NorthWestern Energy has been working since we acquired our Montana hydro assets in 2014 to increase their generation capacity. We started with an analysis of each hydro facility to decide which would be cost effective to upgrade, based on the powerplants’ equipment and the rivers’ flows. We identified Madison, Hauser, Holter, Cochrane and Black Eagle as the priority candidates for upgrades.
By upgrading our hydro facilities, we’re able to produce more carbon-free energy without building new hydroelectric facilities. The left column features historic photos from the Madison plant, and the right column shows photos taken during the Madison powerhouse upgrade.
The recent upgrade at Madison was four years in the making. We signed the contract for the new generating units in 2018. The project was slowed by the pandemic and supply chain issues, as well as unforeseen complications that go with any project that involves 100-year-old infrastructure. The new units came online in March 2022.
The old units were made up of two turbines, connected with a shared shaft to the generator. Each new unit has a single turbine.
“There are a lot fewer parts,” said NorthWestern Energy Engineer BJ Cope.
The generators came fully assembled.
“They arrived completely intact and factory tested,” BJ said. Each generator weighs about 50 tons. The powerhouse’s crane is rated for 25 tons, so a new crane had to be assembled to pick up the generators and put them in place.
The new generators weren’t delivered by horse, like they were a century ago, but getting them down the narrow, twisting gravel road to the powerhouse was no simple task. A special trailer was used that is broken into multiple sections, each with actuating wheels. The trailer is controlled by someone on the ground – no truck required.
The Madison Plant had undergone upgrades before, but nothing like the major overhaul just completed. Water travels from Madison Dam to the powerhouse in a 1.5-mile-long flow line that was originally built with wood staves and steel banding, much like a wooden barrel. In the early ’90s, it was replaced with a metal flow line. The dam itself was built from wood. Wood timbers were layered and then infilled with rock. Also in the ’90s, reinforced concrete was added over the dam. Inside the powerhouse, improvements have been made as well – updating equipment and technology and automating processes and controls.
The new generator units have a lifespan of at least 50 years.
“The people who built these plants, I don’t think they anticipated people using them 100 years later,” BJ said.
According to Carrie Harris, Manager of Hydro Engineering, NorthWestern will continue to evaluate the feasibility and economics of additional generating units at our Thompson Falls and Morony dams. If all the potential upgrades are undertaken in the next few years, our hydro generating capacity would increase by about 49 megawatts.
NorthWestern Energy completed an upgrade of the Madison Powerhouse, replacing the four generator units. This brought the generation capacity of Madison from 8 megawatts to 12.
Upgrades at Holter Powerhouse began in 2020. Most of the equipment that is being replaced is original from 1916. Once the upgrades are complete, the units will look much the same as they did in 1916. However the “guts,” including a generator stator and rotor, and turbine wheel and components, will all be new. This new equipment includes mechanics and technology that will allow the units to stop and start automatically. All four units are scheduled for an upgrade, the first of which will come online around July 1, 2022. The final unit should be completed around the end of 2025. The existing units generate 12 megawatts each, the new units will generate up to 15.3 megawatts each. The upgrades will result in the Holter plant capacity increasing by about 13 megawatts, the equivalent of adding an entire additional new unit.
The upgrades also included new conductors and insulators on the roof of the power plant in 2020-2021, five new 100-kilovolt synchronizing breakers, new metering equipment and a new differential control panel.
The latest addition to the hydro upgrade portfolio occurred in late 2021 with the issuance of a contract to replace the Unit 2 turbine wheel. This upgrade will occur while the unit is offline for a generator repair and rewind. The maximum output of the unit will increase by about 2 megawatts, and the new unit will have a much broader operating range and better efficiency at all flows, thus enabling production of significantly more energy over a broader range of flows. The unit is expected to be online in early 2024.
The total replacement of Hauser Units 2, 4 and 5 began in 2017. The work to replace the units includes adding draft tubes to the area below the powerhouse floor that was formerly free-flowing water. The extensive civil work to install the new units creates a new turbine floor level in the former tailrace area of the powerhouse. So far, two of the three originally planned units are complete with the third unit (Unit 5), planned to be online in the fourth quarter of this year. The new units produce around 4 megawatts each (compared to the 2.6 megawatts of the old units). NorthWestern is evaluating the economic feasibility of upgrading the remaining Units 1, 3, and possibly 6 starting in 2023.
The first Black Eagle (Unit 1) upgrade began in 2019 with project completion expected in August 2022. Once complete, we expect the maximum generation for the new unit to be around 9 megawatts, compared to the old unit’s output of 7 megawatts. A contract has been issued for the next Black Eagle unit upgrade (Unit 3).
The leading cause of power outages on NorthWestern Energy’s largest transmission line probably isn’t what you’d expect. It’s not wind, or storms, or trees falling on the line. The leading cause of outages is birds, or more specifically, bird poop, technically called mute.
“It has been an issue to some degree ever since the lines were initially energized in 1983,” said Jim Lueck, Electric Transmission 500kV Advisor for NorthWestern Energy.
However, during the winter of 2016/2017, NorthWestern began experiencing simultaneous outages along the parallel 500kV line segments. After each outage, crews patrolled the lines and could not find a root cause. While bird poop was known to cause occasional outages on the lines, these outages seemed different. Everyone was stumped, as the cause of these repeated outages remained a mystery.
NorthWestern’s 500kV lines are our largest capacity transmission lines, running from Colstrip, Montana, to Washington state. NorthWestern is responsible for maintaining these lines from Colstrip to Townsend, Montana, or approximately 256 linear miles for each of the two parallel circuits. 500kV means the lines operate at 500 kilovolts (500,000 volts) of electricity.
Outages on these high-capacity lines are a big problem, because the 500kV lines supply power to customers across our service territory and beyond.
“An interruption on the 500kV system can have a substantial negative impact,” Jim said. “It’s really the crux of our bulk power electric transmission system as it ties and supports our internal large load centers.”
It was a stroke of luck that finally helped Jim solve the outage mystery.
Late one winter afternoon, Jim was out with a crew that was working on the 500kV lines. Around 4 p.m., just as the sun was starting to set,
huge flocks of ravens began landing on the 500kV towers to roost for the night.
“It was like something out of a Hitchcock movie,” Jim said.
After that first chance encounter with the roosting ravens, Jim started going out in the evenings to further investigate what was occurring. It turned out that a very specific combination of factors was leading to these simultaneous outages. Mute from the ravens was falling on the insulators. If fog or light rain moistened the droppings, the mixture conducts electricity and creates a bridge along the insulator “skirts,” which creates a fault on the line.
When Marco Restani, Bird Biologist at NorthWestern Energy, got involved in the raven/transmission line issue, he was shocked by the huge number of ravens roosting on the 500kV line towers. One roost alone contained more than 2,100 birds during a single night.
“That’s an astonishing number of ravens,” Marco said.
Jim and Marco began working together to find a solution for these bird-caused outages.
An obvious answer might have been to clean the insulators, but with the huge number of birds roosting on the towers, cleaning would have to be a near-daily occurrence.
“We could virtually clean them spotless on any particular day, and they could be completely covered again within a week,” Jim explained. “That’s how much and often they go.”
Plus, most of the time mute-covered insulators don’t cause a problem. The droppings dry, and the insulators can do their job. It takes fog or light rain to create the perfect recipe for an outage. Fog or mist moistens the mute, allowing the substance to conduct electricity. Heavy rain actually removes it very well.
So instead, Jim looked at ways to keep ravens away from the lines.
Ravens are not a problem along the entire 256 miles of 500kV transmission line that NorthWestern manages. Raven problems are isolated to seven specific areas along those transmission lines. In each of those seven areas, large numbers of ravens can be found on just a handful of towers.
Those seven areas are popular with ravens because they are near a food source, such as a feed lot or prairie dog town. Ravens are scavengers and prefer to perch close to an area where they can consistently find food without expending energy. If we tried to completely remove the ravens from the towers they currently occupy, they would simply move to the next adjacent tower and then the next, and so on.
“As there are approximately 2,250 towers within our service area responsibility, we do not want keep them off the towers entirely, because that will create an unending struggle for us,” Jim said.
Instead, Jim began devising a way to keep the birds off specific portions of the tower, but leave enough space for birds to perch on other parts of the tower.
NorthWestern Energy crews eventually began installing bird deterrent spikes on the towers directly above the line. That way mute does not accumulate on the insulators closest to the power line conductors. Droppings can build up on the insulators farthest from the power line without causing any problems.
Solving this outage mystery and devising a solution took some trial and error.
In winter 2020, Jim and Marco published a paper in the scientific journal Human–Wildlife Interactions documenting the issues with ravens on the 500kV lines and the solutions they were able to find to deal with the birds.
“This was just a clear example of a human-wildlife conflict,” Marco said. “Every utility struggles with outages caused by birds through electrocution, collision, nesting or roosting.”
Publishing the paper was a chance for NorthWestern Energy to share its findings on a common problem that hasn’t been widely studied.
“This was a chance to help other utilities who may also be struggling to identify why they’re having similar outages,” Jim said.
The paper, titled “The emerging conflict of common ravens roosting on electric power transmission line towers in Montana, USA,” has been downloaded more than 250 times in 34 different countries. It outlines three successful solutions to the problem of raven-caused outages: perch deterrents, periodic washing of insulators and silicon-coated insulators.
While the perch deterrents help to keep bird mute off insulators, the insulators still get covered in droppings and need to be cleaned periodically. NorthWestern Energy uses a helicopter-mounted sprayer. With the helicopter, eight towers can be cleaned in a day, compared to one a day by hand. The helicopter can also reach remotes sites on the 500kV line. Silicon insulators were installed on seven select towers with the largest roosts as an early proposed solution. These insulators types offer a much longer current leakage path as compared to the traditional in-service glass insulators. The silicon coating is also able to convert moisture into discrete droplets deposited along the non-muted surface areas interrupting that leakage path as well.
The issues with ravens won’t be going away anytime soon. Marco and Jim also used data gathered by the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count to show raven populations are increasing.
The first raven documented in the Billings Christmas Bird Count was in 1979, now the birds are common across the West.
Ravens thrive around humans, explained Marco, who has studied ravens for almost three decades. With human populations increasing, there is more agriculture, roadkill and larger landfills, all of which are food sources for ravens.
“Ravens will eat pretty much anything,” Marco said. “These birds are also incredibly smart.”
That means NorthWestern Energy had to be smart about finding a solution and had to move quickly because outages on the 500kV line are hugely problematic.
When Mary Gail Sullivan, NorthWestern’s Director of Environment, Lands, Permits and Compliance, first heard about Marco’s and Jim’s solution to the raven outages, she was incredibly impressed.
“I was kind of awestruck,” she said. “NorthWestern is out there ahead of things. This is pretty cutting edge.”
“We’ve learned so much about this in a very short period of time,” Jim said. “We have picked up a tremendous amount of information and knowledge in the last three years.”
Jim and Marco are happy this paper allows them to share information with others and hope the information can help other energy companies struggling with their own transmission outage mysteries.
NorthWestern Energy owns and operates a lot of tall equipment. Our power lines and wind turbines tower above the ground and our dams jut out above rivers. Inspections in hard-to-reach areas are safer with the help of a drone.
In 2020, NorthWestern Energy’s three corporate pilots began researching the use of drones for inspections, vegetation management, documenting construction progress and more. They researched the appropriate drones for necessary scope of work and also created a drone operations manual.
“We’d like to develop a multipurpose drone program to serve the needs of our company for inspections and video work,” said Jeff Quam, Chief Pilot for NorthWestern Energy.
NorthWestern currently has a fleet of four small drones and has six licensed drone operators in the company.
In 2021, NorthWestern conducted more than 60 drone missions. Drones were used to collect photos and videos for brochures and other communications materials, including this magazine. After a fire in Melstone, Montana, we used a drone to survey property damage. A drone helped inspect an area near Madison Dam after a rockslide.
We are considering the possibility of using drones for some of our
annual power line inspections and to survey infrastructure after fires or storms.
Every year, NorthWestern Energy inspects thousands of miles of power lines looking for issues that may cause outages. The inspections are done via helicopter and foot patrol. We contract with a helicopter service and send an engineer and vegetation management specialist to spend days in the helicopter inspecting lines. Using drones for line inspections may provide another solution. However, it comes with its own challenges, too.
Commercial drone operators are required to be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration and follow a strict set of rules regarding drone operations. One of the most restrictive requirements pertains to line of sight. Without a waiver from the FAA, every drone operation must remain within line of sight of an approved crew member.
Because of the line of sight rule, we can’t fly a drone along miles of power lines while the pilots stay in one place. Instead, our drone operators can only fly the drone as far as they can see it, and then must move to do the next section of line.
“There’s some hope the FAA will ease the waiver process for beyond-line-of-sight operations,” Jeff said.
NorthWestern Energy is expanding our use of drones.
Those operations will require larger drones with more sophisticated communication systems. Our current drones weigh about 1 pound and have a range of about 2.5 miles. Flight time is limited to about 30 minutes before swapping for a fully charged battery.
NorthWestern Energy’s drone fleet currently includes platforms from Parrott and Skydio. These drones were selected based on their camera and flight capabilities, as well as using operating systems that don’t pose a threat to the company’s cyber security.
Jeff expects our use of drones to expand in coming years.
“We’re trying to dip our toe into the water when it’s efficient and cost effective to use drones,” he said.
As we find new, innovative ways to use drones, we’ll grow our fleet accordingly and likely have more employees who become certified operators.
NorthWestern’s drone operators must be licensed by the FAA, which requires them to pass the Part 107 Unmanned Aircraft General exam. This test covers air space classifications, weather, emergency procedures, radio commutations and more. Upon certification, flight training and company procedures are provided through the drone department.
“The plan is to grow the program organically,” Jeff said.
60 drone missions in 2021
4
small drones in our fleet
6 licensed drone operators in the company
Parrot ANAFI (two in our fleet)
Size: 12.25” x 2.4” x 9.5”
Weight: 11.3 ounces
Features: 4K/HDR camera on a three-axis stabilizing gimbal.
Parrot ANAFI USA
Size: 14.7” x 11” x 3.3”
Weight: 1.1 pounds
Features: The Parrot ANAFI USA was initially designed for the U.S. Army and is manufactured in the United States. A 32x zoom allows operators to see details from three miles away. A thermal camera detects temperatures between -40 and 356 degrees.
Skydio 2
Size: 9” x 10.8” x 5”
Weight: 1.8 pounds
Features: An anti-collision system allows the drone to get close to objects without worrying about crashing into them.
EVERYONE NEEDS A PLACE TO BUILD
NorthWestern Energy Engineer Noah Kimuyukilonzo taught himself web design and creation so he could help raise awareness of the Kalawa Library and School Project. He also helps supply computers to the school and library in Kenya so students can prepare for jobs in e-commerce.
At heart, Noah Kimuyukilonzo has always had a passion for helping others and finding ways to make the puzzle pieces fit.
“I’ve always enjoyed looking at a project and finding a solution to make it work or to make it better,” he said. “That’s why I chose a career in engineering because it’s concrete, black and white.”
At NorthWestern Energy, Noah exercises his passion for “making the puzzle pieces fit” by working on projects as the construction engineer in Yankton, South Dakota.
Outside of work, Noah follows his passion for helping others by volunteering with the Kalawa Library and School Project.
Noah’s original roots reside more than 8,000 miles away in Nairobi, Kenya, where he was born and spent the first 10 years of his childhood before moving to the United States in 2001.
In 2019, Noah traveled back to Kenya to visit his extended family for the first time since he’d left, and he was reminded and humbled by how different everyday life is in Kenya compared to the United States.
“It was kind of a culture shock again, but in reverse. I forgot how much of a need there was for all the basic necessities,” Noah said.
He knew he needed to do something to help. And he needed to figure out how to help in a meaningful way while still living in the United States.
Noah’s father, Dr. Gideon K. Kilonzo, has spent most of life giving back and helping the people of Kalawa, Kenya.
“As a career educator since the mid-1970s, I purport that education plays a vital part in any solution toward improving the lives of a rural village. I think if people have the opportunity for an education, they can learn how to find or create resources regardless of where they live,” Dr. Kilonzo said.
In 2011, he established the Kalawa Library and School Project to provide primary education, computer literacy, teaching resources and library services to rural Kalawa, Kenya.
“The idea was to raise funds to build a library and later a K-8 elementary school,” Dr. Kilonzo said. “A farm storage building was refurbished, making it into a library.”
The library had limited electricity, but at minimum, it provided a place for children to read and learn independently. The Kalawa Library opened its doors on Dec. 16, 2011. Shortly after, in January 2012, St. Joseph Academy was formed.
NorthWestern Energy encourages employee volunteerism by offering paid time off for volunteer activities.
We also offer two different employee volunteer grant programs. Through our Employee Volunteer Program, NorthWestern Energy will donate up to $400 to each nonprofit organization our employees serve. With our Team Grants, we give $100 for each employee who volunteers at an event.
In 2021, we awarded $54,900 to 103 nonprofits through the Employee Volunteer Program and Team Grant Program.
After visiting Kenya, Noah decided to follow in his father’s footsteps, got involved and helped take the project to the next level by developing a website to raise awareness.
Noah’s role in the Kalawa Library and School Project is maintaining the website, applying for grants and finding ways to get additional donations to the project.
“It took about a year to develop the content needed for launching the project publicly. During this time, I learned the ins and outs of website design and creation,” he said.
In June 2020, The Kalawa Library and School Project launched “Project Fanikiwa” to help develop technical and vocational skills for youths and adults in preparation for the worldwide e-commerce industry. Noah’s work with local organizations helps facilitate supplies and computers for the program.
“I know we’re making an impactful difference,” he said.
But there’s still work left to do – and that’s what keeps Noah motivated the most for the project.
“The majority of kids who attend St. Joseph Academy walk about five miles to school every morning. So getting a reliable form of transportation is one of the many goals to help improve their quality of life overall,” he said.
The kitchen is a crude outdoor facility with no modern amenities such as running water or electricity.
“It’s more or less a pit that they light a fire in and cook porridge in to serve the students,” he said.
With the help of donations from local organizations, including NorthWestern Energy, Noah maintains the website to bring awareness of his father’s efforts and all of the remaining puzzle pieces to help improve the lives of people in Kalawa, Kenya.
Visit www.kalawalspinc.org to learn how you can help support the project.
Scan this QR code with your phone’s camera to read an essay by Dr. Gideon K. Kilonzo about the Kalawa Library and School Project.
By Erin Madison
A few years ago, Kelly Posewitz, Executive Director of ExplorationWorks, was at a conference and saw a LiteZilla Light Wall – similar to a Lite Brite, but expanded to be eight feet long and five feet tall.
“I was like, oh my gosh, wouldn’t that be amazing?” Kelly remembers.
Then she saw the price tag, and decided the Light Wall was outside the budget of the interactive STEM museum located in Helena, Montana.
Fast forward to Kelly chatting with Howard Skjervem, NorthWestern Energy Community Relations Manager, about ways NorthWestern could support the museum.
Howard asked, “What would your dream be if you were dreaming big?”
Kelly told Howard about the Light Wall, which is lit with LED lights. NorthWestern Energy is working to upgrade all our streetlights and yard lights in Montana to LED. And we frequently work with commercial customers to upgrade their lighting to LED.
Light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, are today’s most energy-efficient and rapidly developing lighting technology. LED lighting uses at least 75% less energy and lasts 25 times longer, compared to incandescent lighting.
“That could make a lot of sense for us,” Howard said, as Kelly told him about the Light Wall.
NorthWestern Energy was able to make a $15,000 donation to ExplorationWorks to sponsor the LiteZilla Light Wall, which was installed November 2021 and was an instant hit with museum visitors of all ages.
“It’s so fun to watch people engage with it, young and old,” Kelly said. “A lot of adults seem to enjoy the Light Wall as much as the kids, if not more! Visitors have come up with some pretty neat creations since this exhibit has been installed.”
Much like a Lite Brite, the Light Wall features round, colorful plastic pegs that visitors can stick in holes in the Light Wall to make patterns, pictures or words.
“It’s a beautiful mix of art and science,” Kelly said.
In early 2019, NorthWestern Energy partnered with ExplorationWorks to create an exhibit that was all about electricity. That exhibit was also born from a conversation between Kelly and Howard. The two got to talking about how few people understand what happens to make the lights come on in their houses. Howard offered to sponsor the exhibit.
“It fits so well,” he said.
The goal of the electricity exhibit was to make something that is invisible visible and understandable, said Matt Jetty, Exhibits and Facilities Director.
“A lot of it was really basic,” he said.
Matt worked with engineers and line workers from
NorthWestern to create the exhibit. It featured a bicycle that generated electricity to light up a LEGO house. There was also a display that showed the evolution of the lightbulb, from old incandescent bulbs to LEDs. The display tracked how much energy each type of lightbulb uses, and it was shocking to see how little electricity LEDs use, Matt said.
“They use just a tiny sliver of power,” he said.
There was also a real LED streetlight on display, so visitor could see, up close, the new lights going into their neighborhoods.
The electricity display was a temporary exhibit, and moved to Missoula, Montana, were it was displayed at the SpectrUM Discovery Area, a hands-on science center. The Light Wall is a permanent exhibit at ExplorationWorks.
Before the electricity exhibit, NorthWestern helped sponsor a water exhibit that fit with our hydro operations.
NorthWestern Energy is a great partner, because the energy company uses science, engineering, technology and math every day in ways that impact everyone’s day-to-day life, Matt said.
“NorthWestern Energy is always innovating, always doing new things,” Kelly said.
The partnership makes sense for NorthWestern, too. As a company, we rely on being able to hire people who have science, technology engineering and math (STEM) expertise.
“At ExplorationWorks, kids are being educated early about the value of STEM,” Howard said. “For kids, it’s a real learning experience that might inspire them to eventually pursue a career in STEM.”
NorthWestern is one of the top three corporate sponsors for ExplorationWorks.
“We so appreciate the meaningful grants from NorthWestern,” Kelly said. “There aren’t a lot of corporate partners who are able to support us at that level.”
Having that kind of support allows ExplorationWorks to focus on more than the day-to-day of running a nonprofit museum, and instead allows Kelly and her team think up new exhibits and programs that might otherwise be out of reach.
“It allows us to think big,” Kelly said.
And that’s exactly the kind of thinking ExplorationWorks encourages in its visitors, and NorthWestern Energy encourages among its employees.
For more information on ExplorationWorks, visit www.explorationworks.org.
By Amy Grisak
It might be months until we can harvest dinner from the garden, but it’s possible to have fresh greens at our fingertips. This is the perfect time to raise sprouts or microgreens, even if there’s still snow on the ground.
Both sprouts and microgreens are fast-growing, young plants, but there are distinct differences in how they’re grown, along with nutritional benefits.
If you’re looking for a quick fix of greens, grow sprouts. In only three to five days, you’ll have fresh goodness for sandwiches, salads or in cooked dishes. Plus, they’re simple to grow. All that’s required is a jar and fresh water.
The upside of sprouts, beyond being able to eat them within days and needing very little equipment, is they do not need a light source because they’re consumed in the very early stages of growth.
The greatest drawback of using fresh sprouts versus microgreens is there is a risk, albeit small, of food-borne illnesses such as listeria or E. coli because sprouts are grown in damp conditions with no air ventilation and little light. The good news is when you raise your own sprouts, the risk of illness is greatly reduced because you control the cleanliness from the beginning. But while it’s not common to become sick from sprouts, it is possible, which is why anyone with a compromised immune system, including pregnant women, should slightly cook the sprouts to avoid all concern.
Microgreens, on the other hand, require more patience and materials, including light requirements, but the payoff is a higher nutritional makeup. The precise vitamins and nutrients varies depending on the plant varieties chosen, but overall, they are packed with antioxidants, plus all this good stuff stays intact since they’re typically eaten raw.
The seed choice is important when it comes to raising either sprouts or microgreens, but is slightly more critical for sprouts given the possibility of contamination resulting in bacterial growth. Look for seeds specifically meant for sprouting, especially since sprouting seed companies are vigilant about cleanliness and typically test for salmonella and E. coli, further reducing the risk of illness. These are also chosen for their quick germination. Besides online sources, they’re often found at organic food stores and garden centers.
To start sprouts, thoroughly soak the seeds. As a rule of thumb, add about four times as much water as seeds. But it's just as easy to fill a quart sized jar halfway with water to provide plenty of water.
Place approximately three tablespoons of seeds in the jar and add the water. Shake or stir, then cover with a cheesecloth held fast using a rubber band, or better yet, a sprouting lid, which is a mesh screw-on top that makes it super easy to drain the water.
The amount of time needed to soak the seeds is different for every type of seed and is usually listed on the package. If there is no time specified, it’s a safe bet to soak the seeds for eight
hours. Once the time is up, drain the water out of the jar. If using a sprouting lid, simply tip over the jar until all the water runs out. For the cheesecloth, remove it completely and pour the seeds and water through a strainer placed backwards against the top of the jar. This allows the water to drain without losing seeds.
After this initial soaking and draining, rinse the seeds with freshwater and drain them once again. Now the sprouting begins. After draining the final rinse water, swirl the water around the jar to have seeds stick along the sides. This gives them more space and less of a chance to mold. Some people tip the jar updside down at an angle so excess water drains out, but this is not necessary. It works fine to simply just keep the jar on the counter covered with the cheese cloth or the sprouting lid.
For the next couple of days, the task is to rinse and drain the sprouts. Do this at least twice a day. Begin eating the sprouts as soon as they're half an inch long, but once they reach the preferred size, it's time to give them one last rinse and drain before storing them in the refrigerator. Place a paper towel in the bottom of a container to prevent excess moisture. Use them within a week, although particularly at this time of the year, they don’t last long.
Although there are options to grow microgreens hydroponically, most people use potting soil or some sort of sterilized growing medium, including specific microgreen sprouting mats. While microgreens require longer to grow, they have more flavor in the end.
As far as seeds go, options include the same type of seeds for sprouting, although there are some terrific mixed varieties offered by seed companies.
The easiest way to grow microgreens at
home is to utilize a container with drain holes in the bottom and add a sterile growing mix. While there are kits to grow them, this is a great opportunity to utilize the plastic containers from fruit or any number of foods, offering an opportunity to upcycle. Plus, many of these containers have lids, which are very handy during the initial germination stage. There's no need to soak seeds for microgreens. Simply add approximately an inch of soil in the bottom of the container, then sprinkle the seeds on top. Gently press them into the soil and add the lid if there is one. Keep the soil moist and move the container into a window or under grow lights as soon as the seeds begin to germinate.
Providing enough light is the greatest challenge to growing microgreens in the winter. It's definitely possible to move the container to different windows throughout the day to capture the maximum amount of light. But if this isn't an option, small LED lights, many of which are self-standing, do a fantastic job.
Water the microgreens by placing the container in a shallow dish of water to allow the seedlings to take up what they need. While they dry out faster with less soil, water is typically needed every couple of days. Don’t let them dry out, but too much water can cause the seedlings to die.
It requires more patience to grow microgreens as they take two to three weeks to mature, depending on the varieties of plants chosen, but once they are a couple of inches tall, it’s time to harvest. The easiest way is to take a small pair of scissors and snip what’s needed. They are usually harvested for up to a week once they reach the desirable size, but afterward the fast-growing greens tend to become leggy.
Growing sprouts and microgreens is an excellent way to incorporate freshness into the winter diet. Both are very simple to grow with excellent results, and it's a good way to satisfy your green thumb until it’s time to play in the garden.
Amy Grisak is an avid gardener and writer. Her writing appears in everything from the Farmers’ Almanac to Popular Mechanics, and her first book, “Nature Guide to Glacier and Waterton Lakes National Parks,” is now available. Amy lives in Great Falls, Montana, with her two sons and her husband, Grant, who is a biologist with NorthWestern Energy.
Electricity has long been an innovative force. In Butte, an electric light first illuminated the Alice Mine in 1880, almost a decade before Montana achieved statehood.
In coming years, electricity, at first produced by coal and steam, and later in Montana by hydroelectric dams, fueled mines, smelters, lumber mills, grain elevators, streetlights, streetcars and eventually brought reliable, non-flaming light to homes and businesses across Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska.
But as electric lights became commonplace, the work to boost demand, what utility folks call “load building,” took on a more personal look early in the 20th century. In that period, both Northwestern Public Service and the Montana Power Company, the primary predecessors of NorthWestern Energy, launched the sale of electric and natural gas appliances: ranges, refrigerators, washing machines, hot water heaters and the like. In South Dakota, the appliance product mix at once included hand mixers, hair dryers, toasters, irons and other items.
While some utility executives, steeped in the economics of selling electricity and natural gas to large customers, questioned the efficiency of selling so-called “white goods,” (most appliances came in any color the customer wanted as long as it was white) the practice endured for decades. Northwestern Public Service at one point had appliance showrooms in 10 division offices and 18 district offices.
The company considered exiting the appliance business in the 1970s, when utilities and consumers were in the grip of a national energy crisis, and it did scale back its appliance promotional activities to promote energy conservation. But company chairman Al Schmidt and others stood behind appliance sales.
“We thought the sale of appliances was terribly important to load building,” Schmidt told an interviewer. “I happen to firmly believe that load building is good for all customers.” He reasoned that kilowatt hours “were cheaper by the dozen” and “you can distribute them cheaper if you sell more of them.”
While Northwestern Public Service and Montana Power eventually quit selling appliances, the early years produced some innovative efforts. Not long after, a North Dakota man, George A. Hughes, developed the idea of using a red-hot wire heated by electric current, rather than wood or coal, for cooking. George later sold his electric range concept, which also included an oven, to Hotpoint and went to work for that appliance company and later, General Electric. He eventually became known as “Father of the Electric Range.”
In Billings, Jack Roche, an area manager for the power company developed what Montana Power historian Cecil Kirk described as “a ferocious belief in the use of electric appliances, especially a new way of cooking by wire.”
Jack motivated by the growing population of Billings, traveled to Chicago and ordered to 200 ranges to be sold by the power company to build added demand for electricity. Jack didn’t lack flair or promotional ability. At one point, when the Barnum and Bailey Circus was in town, he convinced the circus to rent him three camels upon which he strapped two electric ranges each. An appliance salesperson rode each camel over a mile-long circus parade route.
While it’s unclear whether the camel stunt led to sales, by 1914, 764 Hughes electric ranges had been sold in Billings. Due to Jack’s efforts, Cecil wrote, “Billings became the first city in the country with electric cookery on a large scale.”
While the once-innovative idea of using electricity to cook and bake seems primitive these days, it’s clear the electrical innovation (think solar generation, battery storage and electric cars) will continue to shape our world, as “cooking by wire” did more than a century ago.
Butch Larcombe worked as a newspaper reporter and editor in Montana for nearly 30 years and was also the editor and general manager of Montana Magazine. He worked in corporate communications at NorthWestern Energy for six years before leaving the company in 2018. Originally from Malta, Montana, he now lives near Bigfork.
In the early 1900s, the idea of cooking with electricity was brand new. NorthWestern Energy’s predecessors helped bring appliances to the masses.
By Erin Madison
Philipsburg is steeped in history, located in a geologically rich area and surrounded by beautiful Montana scenery. The small town has its roots as a trading post and mining camp first established in 1866. After the discovery of silver in the area, the region boomed in the late 1800s, and Philipsburg became the region’s trading hub. Philipsburg came into
its heyday in the 1880s, adding two new hotels, an opera house, a brewery, banks and other commercial buildings.
Silver prices went bust in the 1890s, but silver mining continued in the area for almost a century, finally coming to an end in the 1980s.
Rather than board up the buildings and become a ghost town, Philipsburg reinvented itself as a popular visitors’ destination.
Today, Philipsburg is considered one of the West’s most well-preserved and scenic small towns. It’s easy to imagine what Philipsburg looked like during its boom time, thanks to a well - preserved historic downtown.
Philipsburg offers shopping, good food, mining, and serves as a basecamp for nearby adventures at Georgetown Lake, in the Pintler Mountains or along Rock Creek.
Sample a local brew – Philipsburg Brewing Company offers award-winning beers, including staple favorites such as Razzu Raspberry Wheat and Haybag American Hefeweizen. They also offer seasonal favorites, including Hot Spot Blood Orange Pale Ale and 5 Phantoms Pumpkin Spice Barleywine. Philipsburg Brewing offers two locations in Philipsburg. The Vault, 101 W.
Broadway, the original location that opened in 2012, is located in an old bank building in the heart of downtown Philipsburg. The original bank vault is still intact but now houses a brewery gift shop. When the brewery outgrew the Vault in 2015, it expanded to a second location called the Springs, located on the east end of town at 106 Brewery Road. Both locations offer live music and outdoor seating. philipsburgbrew.com
Mine for sapphires – Montana is the only state in the United States with a significant pro duction of gem-quality sapphires, and one of Montana’s largest deposits of sapphires is located near Philipsburg. Philipsburg offers a vari ety of options for visitors who want to mine for sapphires:
Learn the history of Granite County – Philipsburg and Granite County are steeped in rich history, and the Granite County Museum will teach you all about it. The museum features a replica of an underground silver mine, complete with a compressor, hoist house, several ore cars and various other pieces of mining equipment. You can also look inside a miner’s cabin and an assay office. The exhibit gives visitors a look at what life was like as a silver miner at the turn of the century. The museum also houses the Ghost Town Hall of Fame, a coin collection that was found under a miner’s cabin, and photos, clothing, and other belongings of former residents of Granite County. Admission is $5. 135 S. Sansome St. granitecountymuseum.com.
Find fine wine and gourmet cheese – The main floor of Snookies Mercantile offers gifts, kitchen gadgets, toys and mores. Venture downstairs, and you’ll find a wide selection of wine and cheese. Snookies boasts 400 varieties of wine, and almost as many types of cheese! In addition to cheese, the store offers sausages, salami, crackers and more – everything you need to build a gourmet charcuterie platter The Mercantile is located in the historic Kaiser House in downtown Philipsburg. 203 E. Broadway.
• Montana Gems has outdoor running water flumes where visitors can sift through gravel in search of gems. The shop offers a variety of gravel for sale. They also offer loose stones, custom jewelry and rockhound supplies. 204 W. Broadway. montanagems.net.
• Gem Mountain Sapphire Mine is one of the largest, oldest and most productive sapphire mines in the world. During the summer, you can book a visit to the mine, located outside Philipsburg on Highway 38, where you can wash gravel in hopes of finding sapphires. Year-round, you can visit Gem Mountain’s Philipsburg location, 201 W. Broadway, where you can shop for jewelry, loose sapphires and buy gravel. gemmountainmt.com
• The Sapphire Gallery has a beautiful collection of Montana sapphire jewelry – earrings, rings, necklaces and so much more. They also offer loose stones and allow customers to design custom jewelry. You can also search for sapphires in the mining room. 115 E Broadway.
Act like a kid in a candy shop – No trip to Philipsburg is complete without a visit to the Sweet Palace. The Sweet Palace calls itself “the world’s greatest candy store,” and it lives up to the motto The store lives up to every childhood fantasy, with more than 1,000 kinds of candy. The Sweet Palace makes its own salt water taffy and offers more than 70 flavors. They also make fudge, marshmallows, caramels, toffees and brittles at the Copper Cauldron, located two doors down from the Sweet Palace.
The Sweet Palace is closed on Saturdays, so plan accordingly. 109 E. Broadway. sweetpalace.com.
Catch a show – The Philipsburg Theatre is the oldest operating theater in the state of Montana. The theater was built in 1891 by prominent businessman Angus A. McDonald and was originally named the McDonald Opera House. Montana artist Edgar Paxson painted six backdrops for the theater, five of which are still onsite. Eventually the opera house closed, but the building remained. Over the years, it housed a pop bottling company, a bank and a livery stable. In recent decades, Philipsburg Playhouse Productions, a community nonprofit has worked to restore the building so it could once again be used as a theater. Visit the theater’s website - www.philipsburgtheatre.com – or Facebook page – Facebook.com/philipsburgtheatre – for a current list of plays and shows. You can also book a tour of the building. For a $10 donation, you’ll get to see the light booth, backstage and lower rooms of the historic theater. 140 S. Sansome St.
Sip an old fashion soda
Fountain offers all the classic favorites from a 1950s soda fountain –phosphates, cream sodas, ice cream sodas and old – all handmade in the historic two the restaurant for almost 100 years. Try a Brown Cow – root beer with chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream – or a green river – a bright-green, lime-flavored soda. 120 E Broadway.
DoeBrothersPhilipsburg
Stay in a historic hotel
Kaiser House, which first opened in 1881, was known as one of the fin est hotels in the area. People would travel to Philipsburg just to stay at the grand hotel. Owner John Kaiser could often be found dealing poker in the basement, which was a billiard and card playing area. The main floor was a fine restaurant, and the upper floor offered rooms for visitors. The building, which is one of the oldest masonry struc tures in Philipsburg has recently been restored. Snookies Mercantile occupies
the main floor and basement, with hotel rooms upstairs. Each room is decorated with historic touches. kaiserhouselodging.com
Unique toys for kids of all ages – Gizmos Toy & Novelty offers “timeless and novel toys with a batteries-not-required approach.” The toy store, located in downtown Philipsburg, offers books, science kits, games and more. 120 West Broadway. facebook.com/
GizmosPburg
Discovery Ski Area – Discovery Ski Area offers the feel of a small, mom-and-pop ski hill, with some of the best ski terrain to be found. There’s something for everyone at this ski hill, located just outside Philipsburg. The front side of the mountain offers gentle runs and groomed cruisers. On the back side, you’ll find steep, ungroomed terrain. The entire ski area is 2,200 acres, and the longest run is a whopping 1.5 miles. In the summer, served bike park with intermediate to advanced
Travel back in time – Catch a glimpse of life in an 1890s silver boomtown. Granite Ghost Town State Park captures the history of the richest silver mine on earth. After miners uncovered a vast amount of silver, the population of the town boomed to about 3,000. It was then deserted in the silver panic of 1893. Today, the state park features the ruins of an old Union Hall and the superintendent’s house. The park is surrounded by forest, where visitors will find old cabins and mining
Follow a steep, winding road from Philipsburg to the ghost town. The park officially opens for the season on Memorial Day. However, snow occasionally blocks the road into late May. fwp.mt.gov/stateparks/granite-ghost-town
This easy recipe makes a big batch of delicious cookies. These treats are gluten-free, as long as gluten-free oats are used. Visit the Sweet Palace in Philipsburg to pick up some candies for the recipe. It calls for M&Ms, but with 1,000 different options at the Sweet Palace, you might want to experiment with a few different candy options.
½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 ₁ ₄ cups dark brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
4 ½ cups old fashioned oats, certified gluten-free if necessary
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup M&Ms
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Place butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter in a large bowl. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat together until well combined. Add in oats, baking soda, salt, M&Ms, and chocolate chips. Mix until well combined.
2
3
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with a silicone baking mat.
Use a cookie scoop to scoop cookie onto prepared baking sheet. Depending on the size of your cookie scoop, bake cookies for 8-12 minutes (8 for smaller cookies, 12 for larger cookies).
4 Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing from the cookie sheet and placing the cookies on a cooling rack.
5 Serve immediately or cool completely before storing in airtight containers.
Correction: The beer cheese soup recipe in the Environment issue omitted the amount of cheese to include in the soup. It should have listed 3 cups of grated cheddar cheese.
NorthWestern Energy generated nearly $2.6 billion in total economic impact across our service area in 2021. These figures were determined by Bozeman, Montana-based Circle Analytics using a database model that factors in our revenue and the impact of electric and natural gas energy companies.
The market value of goods and services produced by NorthWestern Energy. Gross Economic Output is essentially equal to the revenue collected from businesses (including indirect taxes).
The total value added by the production of goods and services in the economy. This is money in the economy that would not be there if NorthWestern Energy ceased to exist.
The number of jobs generated by our economic impact. This goes beyond the number of people employed by NorthWestern and includes jobs created indirectly by our contribution to the economy.
While power outages are unavoidable, NorthWestern Energy strives to keep power disruptions to a minimum. On average, customers experience about one power outage lasting longer than five minutes per year. We closely track these reliability data points to monitor and measure the frequency and duration of outages.
MONTANA
129.3 minutes
(Three-year average: 114.7 minutes)
1.180 outages (Three-year average: 1.259 outages)
109.6 (Three-year average: 93.3 minutes)
SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index)The cumulative duration, in minutes, of sustained outages experienced by the average customer in a year.
SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index) - The number of sustained outages (a power outage lasting longer than 5 minutes) experienced by the average customer in a year.
CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index) - The average wait time, in minutes, required to restore service once a customer experiences an outage.
81.5 minutes (Three-year average: 103.4 minutes)
0.832 outages (Three-year average: 1.303 outages)
97.9 (Three-year average: 80.8 minutes)
These maps show our community-specific investments. The statewide totals include community-specific and statewide investments.
Do you recognize the location of any of these photos? Send us your guesses to be placed in the drawing for a prize. Guesses should be specific, such as naming a feature in the photo or giving the exact location. Send your guesses to bright@northwestern.com. Be sure to include your name, mailing address and phone number so we can contact you if you’re a winner.
Montana: A handful of readers recognized the small town of Pony, Montana. From the correct guesses, we selected Doug C. of Elliston, Montana, as the winner. Doug even identified Hollowtop Mountain in the distance!
South Dakota: Only one reader recognized the mural in Clear Lake, South Dakota. Congratulations to Melody M. of Bozeman, Montana.
Nebraska: No one recognized the sculpture located on Kearney Airport Road in Kearney, Nebraska.
