The agency that distributes hydroelectric power generated by Missouri River dams is planning to buy wind power for the first time.

The Western Area Power Administration says its deal to buy up to 50 megawatts of wind power per year from Bismarck-based Basin Electric Power Cooperative for three years is a "precedent-setting" way to meet its power demands and support renewable energy.

Financial details were not released Wednesday. WAPA says it will buy the power from 2010 through 2012.

Drought has plagued the Missouri River Basin for eight straight years, lowering electricity production. The six power plants on the river generated a record-low amount of electricity in July, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Total energy production this year is expected to be half the normal amount, down to 5 billion kilowatt hours.

WAPA, one of four such agencies within the U.S. Department of Energy, sells power to cities, rural electric co-ops, American Indian tribes, federal and state agencies, and other nonprofit providers. When it cannot fulfill its contracts with hydropower, it must buy power elsewhere.

"Our greatest challenge is to purchase replacement energy at the least cost to our customers, and also minimize our exposure to short-term market risks," said Jody Sundsted, power marketing manager for WAPA's Upper Great Plains Region.

WAPA markets power in 15 central and western states. WAPA spokeswoman Carolyn Hinkley said the wind power it will buy from Basin will be used to supplement electricity for Upper Great Plains customers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Minnesota, Iowa and part of Nebraska.

- Associated Press