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N.Y. PSC identifies NYPA transmission project as high priority

October 19, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 19, 2020

The New York State Public Service Commission on Oct. 15 adopted criteria for identifying transmission projects that are needed to meet the renewable energy goals of New York State’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act.

As part of last week’s action, the PSC also identified the New York Power Authority’s proposed Northern New York project as a high-priority project and referred it to NYPA for development and construction in accordance with New York’s Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Protection Act of 2020.

The Accelerated Renewable Energy Growth and Community Protection Act calls on the PSC and NYPA to work together when the Commission determines that there is a need for expeditious action to solve a transmission need.

Once such an urgent need is established, the Act “authorizes NYPA to bring to bear its significant development capabilities and statewide transmission experience to ensure timely construction of the transmission solution,” the PSC noted in an Oct. 15 news release.

NYPA has already identified a multi-faceted project that meets the criteria. The project now moving forward, known as the Northern New York Project, includes completion of the second phase of NYPA’s 86-mile Smart Path Moses-Adirondack rebuild, rebuilding approximately 45 miles of transmission eastward from Massena to the Town of Clinton, rebuilding approximately 55 miles of transmission southward from Croghan to Marcy, as well as rebuilding and expanding several substations along the impacted transmission corridor.

Along with unbottling existing renewable energy in the region, NYPA estimates the Northern New York project will result in significant production cost savings, emissions reductions, and decreases in congestion, the PSC noted.

NYPA calculates that the project will result in production cost savings of approximately $99 million per year, resulting in a project value of approximately $1.05 billion over a 20-year period. The project is estimated to result in more than 1.16 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided annually on a statewide basis, and an annual reduction of approximately 160 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions from downstate emissions sources.

NYPA also estimates the project will result in more than $447 million in annual congestion savings in Northern New York.

NYPA owns and operates approximately one third of New York’s high voltage power lines. The lines transmit power from NYPA’s three large hydroelectric generation facilities and independent wind power generation facilities, connecting nearly 7,000 megawatts of renewable energy to New York State’s power grid.

This includes connecting more than 6,300 MW of hydroelectric power and about 700 MW, or more than a third, of New York State generated wind energy to the grid.

On July 18, 2019, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The Act requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40 percent by 2030 and no less than 85 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels.

Cuomo announces PSC approval of expanded clean energy standard

Meanwhile, Cuomo on Oct. 15 announced that the PSC approved an expansion of the state’s Clean Energy Standard to refocus New York’s existing regulatory and procurement structure on achieving the goals laid out in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The Act established a 70 percent renewable electricity by 2030 mandate.

The expanded Clean Energy Standard gives the state the authority to issue a request for proposals for the renewable power generation sources needed to implement this plan.

Thompson details goals as AMP President and CEO, priorities as APPA board chair

October 16, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 16, 2020

Jolene Thompson recently detailed her goals as President and CEO of American Municipal Power (AMP), how AMP and its members have successfully responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and what she is focused on in terms of her responsibilities as chair of the American Public Power Association’s Board of Directors.

[Thompson in April assumed the role of President and CEO of AMP and in June was installed as chair of APPA’s Board of Directors]

Question: Can you detail your short- and long-term goals as AMP’s president and CEO?

My first few weeks were during the early days of COVID-19, so my initial focus was working with our executive team on procedures to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees and their families. We also established information-sharing forums for our members.

AMP is a strong organization and my goal is to work with the AMP Board and employees to build off that foundation. There are always opportunities to strengthen employee culture, refine business processes and tighten budgets—and we’re working on initiatives in those areas. I’m also focused on outreach to AMP members, policy relevance, economic development and making sure we’re on top of the changes taking place in our industry. Innovation was a priority for Marc Gerken and that will continue.

Under his leadership, AMP initiated a member-led Focus Forward Advisory Council, employee Innovation Team and most recently six employee-led Moonshot Initiative Teams. The teams are developing solutions to challenge statements and I’m excited to see what they come up with. My long-term goals are to meet or exceed our members’ expectations, manage their resources wisely, advance their interests in the policy arena, and provide solutions that they can leverage to stay on top of technology and customer trends. To be successful on those fronts, it’s imperative that AMP’s culture supports collaboration, creativity and diversity. 

Question: Can you describe how AMP and its members have successfully responded to the COVID-19 pandemic?

The full duration of the pandemic remains to be seen and governmental guidelines have been a bit of a moving target, but I think most of us have settled into a routine rooted in strong procedures and virtual platforms to keep business moving. In the Spring, we recognized that AMP could support our members by providing a forum for them to exchange information. As a result, we populated a resource site on our member extranet and began hosting regular member calls. Those calls have now transitioned from weekly to periodic. The AMP Board also established a COVID-19 Task Force to discuss the impacts on member systems. We worked with The Energy Authority and reached out to individual AMP members for information about their local experiences. As you would expect, AMP members have been impacted to varying degrees depending on their customer base.

AMP leadership also found the member calls organized by APPA and engagement via the Electric Sector Coordinating Council very helpful.

Question: What do you see as the key challenges and opportunities for the power sector over the next five to 10 years?

It’s common to hear the current changes impacting the power sector described as “disruptors.” Both because the pace of change is faster than it used to be and there are different players than in the past. Key disruptors – including technology developments, a shifting generation resource mix, heightened customer engagement, climate policy, “organized” markets, and workforce dynamics, all present both challenges and opportunities. It’s especially important for public power to have a seat at the table and minimize the disruptions, which is where APPA, joint action agencies, and state and regional associations must play a role to support their members.

Question: How are public power utilities and joint action agencies such as AMP uniquely positioned to thrive as the power sector undergoes changes in that timeframe?

The foundation of public power – customer-ownership, local control, stewardship, reliability and affordability – are all attributes that can be leveraged to help navigate industry disruptors. There seems to be a growing spirit of altruism that matches well with the public power business model.

Question: AMP earlier this summer received the Energy Innovator Award from APPA in recognition of AMP’s public power electric vehicle planning toolkit and guidebook. Can you detail how the planning toolkit and guidebook benefits AMP member communities? Has AMP heard from member communities as to how they are successfully utilizing the EV planning toolkit and guidebook?

AMP’s members are using the DEED Public Power EV Planning Toolkit & Guidebook as a resource to model EV adoption scenarios across their distribution system. This modeling allows public power systems to evaluate EV adoption costs associated with transformer upgrades and impacts to peak demand, as well as benefits from additional electricity sales.

Question: What are you focused on in terms of your responsibilities as the chair of the APPA Board of Directors? Also, how is APPA positioned to succeed under the leadership of Joy Ditto as the power sector and associations face a variety of challenges these days?

Because my time as Chair coincides with our new CEO’s first year, it’s incumbent on me to ensure there are strong and open lines of communication between Joy and her team and the APPA Board. Joy outlined a vision for the organization that resonated with the Board when she interviewed, and she has been working from day one with the very talented APPA staff to implement that vision. Joy’s time with the Utility Telecommunications Council provided her with a strong understanding of the technological developments impacting our industry. She also had the opportunity to lead a team that was able to move that organization forward. She brings those talents and a passion for public power back home to APPA.

NYPA to explore replacing peakers with clean energy technologies

October 15, 2020

by Ethan Howland
APPA News
October 15, 2020

The New York Power Authority will explore transitioning its natural gas-fired peaking power plants in New York City and Long Island to clean energy technologies, such as battery storage and low to zero carbon emission resources and technologies, under an agreement with a coalition of environmental justice groups.

In an agreement with the PEAK Coalition, a coalition of advocacy groups, NYPA agreed to hire a consultant to explore cleaner options for its fleet of city-wide, peaking power plants, which total 461 megawatts.

“New technologies provide opportunities to include renewable generation and battery technologies in New York City’s electric system to replace, augment and otherwise reduce or eliminate New York City’s reliance on fossil peaker plants over time,” NYPA and the PEAK Coalition said in an agreement outlining the scope of the project.

Replacing the gas-fired units will help New York meet its goal of eliminating carbon emissions from the state’s power fleet by 2040, according to NYPA.

Also, NYPA agreed to pay for consultants to work independently with the PEAK Coalition partners to develop alternative clean energy replacement options, according to the public power utility.

The consultants will study the feasibility of replacing the peaking plants with clean energy options while maintaining grid reliability, according to the agreement.

The agreement calls for the consultants to deliver a report by June 1, if possible. The consultants are slated to be hired via a request for proposals.

Installed in 2001, the power plants operate infrequently — roughly 10 percent of the time or less when directed to do so by the New York Independent System Operator and investor-owned Con Edison Company of New York to meet energy demands, providing local reliability and resiliency, NYPA said.

Replacing the power plants with new technology will lessen or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, NYPA said.

New York City’s peaking power plants, which total about 5,900 MW, produced 1.8 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2018, 1,685 tons of nitrogen oxide emissions and 194 tons of sulfur dioxide emissions, according to a May report by the PEAK Coalition.

The PEAK Coalition says it is spearheading the first effort in the United States to reduce the racially disproportionate health effects of a city’s peaker plants by replacing them with renewable energy and storage.

FERC proposes policy statement on state-determined carbon pricing in wholesale markets

October 15, 2020

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
October 15, 2020

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 15 proposed a policy statement to clarify that it has jurisdiction over organized wholesale electric market rules that incorporate a state-determined carbon price in those markets.

The proposed policy statement also seeks to encourage regional electric market operators to explore and consider the benefits of establishing such rules, FERC noted in a news release. The action took place at the Commission’s monthly open meeting.

In late September, FERC convened a technical conference at which panelists expressed support for the idea of a carbon dioxide pricing regime for organized wholesale power markets.

FERC noted that 11 states currently impose some version of carbon pricing, and other entities, including the regional markets, are examining this approach.

The proposal unveiled by FERC on Oct. 15 finds that regional market rules incorporating a state-determined carbon price can fall within the Commission’s jurisdiction over wholesale rates.

However, determining whether the rules proposed in any particular Federal Power Act (FPA) section 205 filing do fall under FERC jurisdiction will be based on the specific facts and circumstances.

The Commission is seeking comment on the appropriate information to consider when reviewing such a filing, including: 

Comments on the proposed policy statement will be due in 30 days, with reply comments due 15 days after that. 

Both FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Rich Glick expressed support for the policy statement.

In a written statement, Chatterjee clarified that the policy statement is not an effort by FERC to take proactive action to set a carbon price, noting that the Federal Power Act does not give the Commission authority to act as an environmental regulator. He also explained that the statement addresses only consideration of proposals filed under FPA section 205, and not section 206.

FERC Commissioner James Danly concurred in part and dissented in part from the policy statement.

“I dissent in part because I believe that the issuance of a policy statement on this subject—a wholly discretionary act—is unnecessary and unwise,” wrote Danly.

He said he was concurring “with that part of the policy statement noting that we have jurisdiction to entertain section 205 filings that seek to accommodate state carbon-pricing policies, which is a fundamental principle that cannot be doubted.”

With respect to his concern that the Commission should not exercise its discretion to issue a policy statement, Danly noted that he expressed similar concerns in his recent dissent to FERC Order No. 2222 requiring RTOs/ISOs to promulgate rules to accommodate distributed energy resource aggregators.

In that dissent, he questioned the Commission’s seizure of authority at the expense of the states and advocated that FERC should allow RTOs and ISOs to develop their own DER programs in the first instance. “[T]hen the question of the Commission’s jurisdiction will be ripe,” he wrote in the Order No. 2222 dissent.

Danly noted that FERC’s proposed policy statement does not mandate that RTOs/ISOs adopt carbon-pricing accommodation regimes, saying he agrees that the Commission should not issue such a mandate.

“Instead, the policy statement ‘encourages’ RTO/ISO rule changes. Without seeing a proposal, the Commission predetermines that any such proposal will be within the Commission’s jurisdiction and ‘would not in any way diminish state authority,’” the Commissioner wrote.

“That may well turn out to be true, but I would have waited until we had an actual 205 filing before us rather than pre-judging the issue based on unstated assumptions about how such programs might work,” Danly said.

“It is easy to imagine any number of RTO/ISO carbon-pricing proposals that would violate the Federal Power Act by impermissibly invading the authorities reserved to the states.”

Danly also took issue with the policy statement’s assertion that incorporating a state-determined carbon price into RTO/ISO markets could represent another example of the type of program of cooperative federalism that the Supreme Court noted with approval in FERC v. the Electric Power Supply Association.

“There is no program. This is instead a non-binding, blanket dismissal of potential jurisdictional concerns,” Danly said.

As to the substance of the policy statement, Danly concurred. “I cannot do otherwise. The policy statement amounts to little more than a statement of fact: section 205 of the Federal Power Act has not been repealed and the Commission therefore has jurisdiction to entertain section 205 filings that seek to accommodate state carbon-pricing policies. Surely, that need not be stated.”

And to the extent the Commission “feels the need to ‘clarify’ the fact that we have the power to accept just and reasonable tariff revisions that are designed to include mandatory state charges in energy and capacity market offers, I am hard-pressed to identify a more settled area of Commission law.”

OUC-led partnership receives grant to build EV charging station in downtown Orlando

October 14, 2020

by Taelor Bentley
APPA News
October 14, 2020

A partnership led by Florida public power utility Orlando Utilities Commission has been awarded a $500,000 grant to build an electric vehicle charging mobility hub in downtown Orlando as a part of a statewide EV infrastructure project.

The site will be built on OUC-owned land and will feature up to 22 “Level 3” charging stations, including 16 supercharges for Teslas and up to six 350 kW universal chargers.

The partnership is between OUC, the City of Orlando, Orange County and Power Electronics, which makes EV charging equipment.

The new EV charging station is a part of OUC’s efforts to increase Central Florida’s EV use to 40,000 vehicles by 2025.

The EV infrastructure grant was awarded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. The grant and 26 smaller charging locations are funded by the $13.5 million release of the state’s $166 million settlement with German carmaker Volkswagen over emissions violations.

Construction for the project has already begun and will be completed in 2021. The station will be the largest high-speed charging hub serving all types of EVs in Florida and is expected to cost $1 million before the grant is applied, with OUC and Power Electronics making up the difference.

Downtown Orlando business are expected to benefit from proximity to the site. Most EV drivers will require a 20-60 minute charge. This will allow drivers to spend that time in nearby shops and restaurants. OUC and its partners are also reviewing micro-mobility options, including shared bicycles and scooters. This will broaden the range of economic benefit.

The Volkswagen settlement and resulting EV infrastructure project are the latest in a series of electrification initiatives that are reducing emissions in Central Florida.

Orange County was recently recognized as one of five “top tier” counties for EV readiness in a report presented by the League of Women Voters in Florida.

APPA offers EV Activities Tracker

The American Public Power Association offers a Public Power EV Activities Tracker, which summarizes key efforts undertaken by members — including incentives, electric vehicle deployment, charging infrastructure investments, rate design, pilot programs, and more.

Peninsula Clean Energy launches $28 mil EV infrastructure program

October 13, 2020

by Taelor Bentley
APPA News
October 13, 2020

California community choice aggregator Peninsula Clean Energy recently launched a $28 million effort to install electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure at commercial workplaces, multi-family dwellings and other public locations.

The program, EV Ready, is the largest EV charging infrastructure program tied to a single CCA, Peninsula Clean Energy said.

EV Ready plans to install 3,500 charging ports in San Mateo County over the next four years. The effort includes $24 million in project incentives and $4 million towards free technical assistance for eligible properties, support of workforce development in the county and other assorted costs, the CCA noted in a news release.

The $24 million in project incentives includes $12 million from Peninsula Clean Energy and $12 million from the California Energy Commission (CEC) under the California Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Project (CALeVIP).

CALeVIP is a state-funded EV charging infrastructure program that works with local community partners to develop and implement regional incentive projects for charging infrastructure that supports EV adoption statewide.

 That broader CALeVIP Peninsula-Silicon Valley effort will also include $36 million in incentives that will be disbursed in partnership with four Santa Clara County agencies – Silicon Valley Clean Energy, San Jose Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Power and the City of Palo Alto Utilities.

The EV Ready Program includes free technical assistance for eligible properties to support project design, equipment discounts, bidding and contractor selection. The program will offer advanced design strategies which support more EVs at lower cost, including Level 1 and power-manager Level 2 charging ports. Properties receiving technical assistance will also have access to preferential pricing for EV charging stations.

The initial phase of incentives supports multi-family properties and low-power workplace solutions. The second phase of incentives supporting DC Fast Charging and Level 2 charging at a broader range of properties will come with the opening of the CALeVIP Peninsula-Silicon Valley Incentive Project on December 16, 2020.

San Mateo County is expected to have more than 45,000 EVs by 2025. Peninsula Clean Energy said it is committed to utilizing a skilled workforce in an effort that is anticipated to result in more than 400 projects.

In addition, Peninsula Clean Energy’s technical assistance will assist San Mateo County facilities in securing additional incentives from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District’s Charge! Program when applications open later in the fall.  Peninsula Clean Energy already has offered incentives for the purchase and lease of new EVs and instituted a program to help low-income residents purchase a used EV.

The American Public Power Association has initiated a new category of membership for community choice aggregation programs

Public power utilities help La. cooperative with power restoration efforts

October 13, 2020

by APPA News
October 13, 2020

Public power crews are hard at work helping Louisiana cooperative SLEMCO restore power in the wake of Hurricane Delta.

SLEMCO on Tuesday, Oct. 13, reported that as of noon, it had 18,600 customers without power. “SLEMCO crews and several hundred contract crews are working on repairs to feeders still out and also working on outages at individual locations,” the cooperative said on its Facebook page.

Later in the day, SLEMCO reported that as of 3 p.m., SLEMCO had 16,481 customers without power.

On Oct. 10, SLEMCO reported that its system had sustained catastrophic damage from Hurricane Delta, with more than 98 percent of its system without power.

SLEMCO, which is headquartered in Lafayette, La., provides power to 109,000 members in Southwest Louisiana.

Public power utilities send crews to help with restoration efforts

Crews from the following public power utilities have deployed to assist SLEMCO with the cooperative’s power restoration efforts:

Public power crews pre-positioned prior to Hurricane Delta

Public power crews had already deployed and the mutual aid network had been active before the tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Delta began affecting southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas at the end of last week.

Crews deployed to Gulf Coast to prepare for restoration from Hurricane Delta

October 9, 2020

by Susan Partain
APPA News
October 9, 2020

Public power crews had already deployed and the mutual aid network had been active before the tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Delta began affecting southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas on Friday morning.

As of midday Friday, more than 200 personnel from 39 public power utilities have been deployed or are scheduled to deploy to assist nine public power utilities in Louisiana: City of Abbeville, City of Alexandria, the Town of Boyce, Town of Gueydan, Lafayette Utilities System, the City of New Roads, Plaquemine City Light and Water, City of St. Martinsville, and the Town of Welsh.

Responding utilities, as of Friday, October 9, include the following.

Austin Energy in Texas also reported that it is sending crews to support investor-owned utility American Electric Power, which has a service territory that includes Shreveport, La. CPS Energy, also based in Texas, noted plans to assist affected IOUs.

As of Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center expected Hurricane Delta to hit the coast as a Category 3 hurricane, coming to shore by Friday evening, and then downgrade to a tropical storm by Saturday morning as it moves inland in a northeast direction into northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The American Public Power Association compiled a moments feed on twitter to capture the mutual aid activity and latest news from the utilities involved in the response.

Another in a long season

Delta is the 24th named storm in the 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season and the tenth to hit the continental US.

The hurricane is on a path to affect many of the same areas hit by Hurricane Laura at the end of August. Hurricane Laura damaged significant portions of the transmission system, leading to prolonged outages for customers in the area. Customers in the City of Vinton, La., got power restored at the end of September after investor-owned utility Entergy completed restoration of a transmission line connected to the public power city. For Hurricane Laura, the Energy Subsector Coordinating Council reported that nearly 30,000 people from 29 states, the District of Columbia, and Canada participated in restoration activities across the utility sector.

In mid-September, the Gulf Coast region also experienced Hurricane Sally, which made landfall in Alabama as a Category 2 hurricane. In that storm, public power crews from Alabama, Louisiana and Florida aided three coastal Alabama utilities.

As has been the case with other mutual aid scenarios during the pandemic, crews traveling to Louisiana must complete health screenings and undergo temperature checks. As a precaution, local and responding crews practice social distancing during briefings and while having meals and have been supplied with appropriate personal protective equipment. 

Puerto Rico to receive nearly $10 billion from FEMA to rebuild its grid

October 7, 2020

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
October 7, 2020

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has approved $9.6 billion for the Puerto Rico Electrical Power Authority (PREPA) to repair damage to its electric grid caused by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

The federal funding is targeted to repair and replace thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines, electrical substations, power generation systems, and other grid improvements.

The aid package also includes a $2 billion grant for the Puerto Rico Department of Education for restoring school buildings and educational facilities on the island.

“PREPA welcomes the FEMA fund obligations and is focused on the next steps to begin reconstruction of the electrical grid,” Fernando Padilla, director of restructuring and fiscal affairs at PREPA and head of the utility’s disaster funding management office, said via email.

PREPA is in the midst of restructuring its debt following its declaration of a form of bankruptcy in 2017. The utility’s current balance sheet “contains unsustainable debt” that precludes the issuance of bonds to raise capital for infrastructure improvements, Padilla said. In addition, the devastation of Hurricane Maria left unprecedented damages that requires significant mitigation to protect from future natural disasters.

Following the hurricanes in 2017, a massive cross-industry mutual aid response involved thousands of crew members from public power and investor-owned utilities to help restore power to the island. The American Public Power Association coordinated with PREPA, the responding public power crews, and other entities involved through the extended restoration time, which was a concentrated effort from September 2017 through March 2018, but which has continued in other ways as the utility has worked to rebuild and improve its response practices. Through support from the Department of Energy, APPA led a workshop in August for PREPA and other island territories to discuss preparedness practices and lessons learned from the events in 2017.

The FEMA funding will provide the necessary funding to help protect the electrical system and the people of Puerto Rico from future catastrophic events, Padilla said.

The FEMA funds will be used to bring PREPA’s electrical system up to standards capable of withstanding a Category 4 hurricane.

In the wake of Maria, a Category 5 hurricane, Congress approved $50 billion as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 including funding for hurricane response and recovery and for rebuilding critical services and facilities. About $16 billion of those funds have been distributed to date.

Since then, the island was hit by a series of earthquakes in December 2019 and January 2020 and then by Tropical Storm Isaias in July.

The work of reconstructing the grid in the wake of Hurricanes Maria and Irma “has been significantly completed,” Padilla said, but the work was done to codes and standards that would not necessarily stand up to a hurricane of Category 4 or higher.

The list of projects that will be undertaken using the new FEMA funds is still under development and is expected to be completed by the first week of December, Padilla said. Top priorities include protecting critical infrastructure loads, transmission and distribution lines, and large industrial loads that are essential to Puerto Rico’s economy, he said.

PREPA expects to begin receiving the FEMA funding later this year or very early in 2021, Padilla said. The initial funding will be allocated for the design process and then to procurement for initial projects, he said.

“Our organization is fully committed to work with FEMA and all stakeholders to secure a 10-year infrastructure plan that will outline the overall vision and project pipeline to ensure project execution within federal parameters and FEMA guidelines.”

The $9.6 billion award is more than half the cost needed to modernize Puerto Rico’s electric grid over the next 10 years, Moody’s Investors Service said in a tweet in response to FEMA’s Sept. 18 announcement.

The rating agency said the grant was positive for both PREPA and for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

The FEMA funds would bring PREPA’s transmission and distribution systems “up to code and improve reliability and service quality without burdening the Commonwealth and PREPA with incremental debt, and ultimately its customer base, with rate increases for these projects,” Moody’s said.

Omaha Public Power District announces sites for two new gas generators

October 6, 2020

by Peter Maloney
APPA News
October 6, 2020

The Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) has taken its next step in adding 600 megawatts (MW) of gas-fired generation in support of up to 600 MW of solar power that it plans to add to its fleet.

At the September meeting of its board of directors, the Nebraska public power utility announced the location of two sites for the gas-fired generators, one in Douglas County, the other in Sarpy County.

The gas generators will be used to back up between 400 MW and 600 MW of utility-scale solar generation and are part of OPPD’s Power with Purpose project. The utility’s board in November approved OPPD’s proposal to negotiate and enter into procurement contracts for the proposed gas plants.

OPPD also said the Power with Purpose project honors its commitment to keep rates steady for customers with no general rate increase for a fourth consecutive year.

Locations for the solar components of the Power with Purpose project have not yet been announced because sourcing for solar portions of the project are still under way.

The Power with Purpose project is part of OPPD’s broader aim of achieving net-zero carbon dioxide production by 2050. OPPD initiated a Pathways to Decarbonization study to identify and prioritize strategies to reach that goal.

OPPD also said its Power with Purpose project will allow it to retire coal-fired units at its North Omaha Station, which would enable an 80% to 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions at the plant.

“This is OPPD’s first step into our decarbonization efforts to be net zero carbon by 2050, and the organization is fully committed to the new future,” Tim Burke, the utility’s president and CEO, said in a statement. The new gas-fired plants will help OPPD make up for the retired coal units and maintain reliability on its system, he said.

“These natural gas facilities are needed as backup, in order to maintain a reliable and resilient system,” Mary Fisher, vice president of energy production and nuclear decommissioning, said at the board meeting. “The historic flooding we saw in March of last year demonstrates how important resilience is for the future.”

The new gas generators will be used to back up the solar component of the Power with Purpose project. OPPD estimates they would operate about 10% to 15% of the time. The utility also highlighted the benefits of modern gas turbine technology, namely, the ability to ramp up quickly to provide energy when needed and the ability to produce fewer harmful emissions than older gas turbines.