School bus-sized combustion turbine making its way to OPPD’s Turtle Creek Station Sunday night

Omaha Public Power District continues to grow its energy portfolio to meet increasing demand and is hitting a major milestone this weekend. A 225-megawatt (MW) combustion turbine will be making its way to Turtle Creek Station (TCS) in Sarpy County as part of an expansion of that natural gas-powered plant.

The F-Class gas turbine is about 35 feet long – roughly the length of a school bus – and weighs about 560,000 pounds – the weight of a Boeing 787 airplane at maximum capacity. It was built over the course of 20 months in Berlin, Germany, and traveled by barge to Houston and then by rail to Gretna, arriving last week. There, it was prepped for the final five-mile stretch via roadways to TCS, 168th Street & Fairview Road.

The specialized heavy haul move will take place overnight to minimize any impacts to the public. It is expected to begin Sunday, Nov. 9, at approximately 10 p.m. and wrap up before 6 a.m. Monday, Nov. 10.

While we cannot disclose the exact route for security reasons, we do want to make motorists in the general area of the plant aware of the move. We expect rolling road closures as the turbine moves at a safe and steady five miles per hour along the route. OPPD and its project partners are working with local and state law enforcement and other entities to coordinate street closures and the temporary lifting of power lines and streetlights as needed.

The new turbine will join two others at the natural gas-powered plant, which began commercial operation in June. With the two existing turbines, the plant is capable of producing up to 450 MW. When the expansion is complete by the end of 2028, it will have a generating capacity of 675 MW.

The expansion of TCS is part of OPPD’s multi-year, billion-plus-dollar investment in infrastructure upgrades to maintain reliable, resilient electric service as energy usage climbs. OPPD expects to coordinate a total of 15 heavy hauls of large equipment like this one over the next three years to bring these large pieces of equipment to various OPPD sites.