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Renewable Energy
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New Wind Farm Expected To Be In Service Next Year
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A new power purchase agreement will substantially increase the size of the OPPD's renewable energy portfolio.
Under the agreement, OPPD plans to buy up to 40.5 megawatts (MW) of wind energy for 20 years from a wind farm to be built in Boone County near Petersburg, Neb. The facility is expected to be in service by the third quarter of 2011.
The developer of the wind farm is Third Planet Windpower LLC, headquartered in Incline Village, Nev., and also with an office in Petersburg.
The farm will consist of 27 General Electric turbines that will each generate 1.5 MW when the wind is blowing at optimum speed. Once completed, the project is expected to produce enough electricity to serve about 12,000 residential customers.
The addition of the 40.5-megawatt project will bring OPPD’s renewable energy generation capacity to a total of 141.5 MW. The district has announced a goal of having 400 MW, or 10 percent of its total generation, derived from renewable energy sources by 2020.
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- Video: Chris Bywater summarizes OPPD's wind energy resources
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OPPD Targets Increasing Use of Renewable Resources
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The Omaha Public Power District has consistently believed technological improvements would produce cost reductions to make renewable energy sources more affordable and feasible.
And the time has come. Over the next three years, the aim is to reduce energy demand on the OPPD system by 50 megawatts by offering customers a variety of energy-efficiency programs. Those programs are being developed and coordinated by OPPD’s Sustainable Energy and Environmental Stewardship Division.
In addition, by the year 2020, OPPD's goal is that 10% of the energy provided to customers will be produced with renewable resources.
To reach these targets by 2020, the District plans to add about 400 megawatts of renewable energy to its portfolio of power. Of that total, approximately 118 megawatts would come in the next two years in the form of additional wind generation. Not all of the renewable additions will be wind, but it’s safe to say wind energy will play an important role in the future.
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Mix of Fuel Sources Helps Provide Reliable, Affordable Power
| Over the years, OPPD has worked to maintain a good mix of fuel sources used to provide electricity to customers. OPPD uses coal- and natural gas-fueled power plants, a nuclear facility, some hydro power, as well as solar, wind and landfill gas to make the electricity customers need. This approach has played a major role in OPPD's ability to provide reliable and affordable power |
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New Power Plant Delay Equals Savings for Customers
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A problem with wind has been that wind resources in the OPPD service area are generally unsatisfactory for power generation.
However, the cost of renewable energy is not increasing as rapidly as the cost of other generating resources, driven up by increases in the cost of coal supply and rail transportation. These factors now help make renewable energy an economical way to add power required by future growth.
Another important factor is that, until recently, OPPD expected it would need to build its next major power generating facility around 2021. The new goals with renewable energy could allow OPPD to delay a new power plant until around 2033, at a savings of about $40- and $50-million annually for each year the facility is delayed.
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Questions and Answers
- Q. What is this approach likely to cost?
- A. That’s uncertain, at this point, but we believe the overall costs will be less than constructing our own power plants.
- Q. What would this do to rates?
- A.We’re going this way because our evaluation indicates that this path is the least expensive for our customer-owners. We would expect this to help minimize any impact on rates.
- Q. Why are you proposing 10% renewables?
- A. We’re committing today to use renewable resources to provide the energy we believe our customers will need, and our 10% commitment meets that need.
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