Tag Archives: Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD)

City adopts financing tool for environmentally friendly projects

By Tony Herman, Hastings Tribune

Hastings became the latest Nebraska city to adopt Property Assessed Clean Energy program when the Hastings City Council approved the program’s manual, application and contract form during the council’s regular meeting Jan. 13. Participation in PACE promotes energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy as an economic development tool. PACE financing is for commercial real estate and finances energy efficiency, water conservation and renewable energy systems. PACE loans serve as gap financing, so the developer would not have to spend as much of its capital to undertake an energy efficiency component of a project. Read more here.

Photo of the Nebraska State Capitol by Rick McCharles / Creative Commons. The Nebraska Legislature passed PACE-enabling legislation in 2016.

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CONSERVATION NEBRASKA’S COMMON GROUND EDUCATION PROGRAM 

Workshop aims to build ‘A Sustainable You’ in 2020, by Tim Johnson, The North Platte Telegraph
The meeting was the kickoff to a yearlong program with monthly themes for Conservation Nebraska’s Common Ground Program. Solar energy will be February’s topic.

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Nebraska’s largest solar power project comes into clearer focus with OPPD bid request

By Aaron Sanderford, Omaha World-Herald

The most solar power in state history should flow into the electrical outlets of eastern Nebraska homes and businesses by 2024. That’s when the Omaha Public Power District aims to finish Nebraska’s largest solar power project, building it in or near the 13 counties OPPD serves. The new solar farms could be located in more than one site. OPPD management is soliciting bids through mid-January to add OPPD’s first utility-scale solar power, producing 400 megawatts to 600 megawatts of electricity. Continue reading here.

Photo Credit: American Public Power Association

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Senior management promotions announced by NPPD, News Release

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OPPD Board of Directors Vice Chair Craig Moody Hosting Town Hall

Announcement by Craig Moody

November 7, 2019 at 7 pm
 UNO’s Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center, Room 127
6400 University Drive S, Omaha, Nebraska 68182

I’m interested in hearing what issues are important to you and what your vision is for OPPD.

Elected to OPPD’s Board of Directors in 2016 representing Subdivision 5, Moody currently serves as Board Vice Chair. 

Facebook Announcement 

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NPPD’s investment in UNL energy research reaches $14 million

Sponsored Content, Norfolk Daily News

Smack-dab in middle of Nebraska in the fall of 2005, a farmer from the Broken Bow area planted a seed. Since then, Darrell Nelson’s visionary idea for an energy center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has grown into a more than a $75 million investment in technology that is benefitting the entire Cornhusker state. “Darrell was brilliant, and a true visionary,” said Alan Dostal, director of research at Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD).

Nelson, a farmer who served 26 years on the NPPD Board of Directors, helped create the Nebraska Center for Energy Research at UNL in 2006. Since then, NPPD has invested $14 million into the project, which has grown into more than $75 million with additional, external and federal grants. In all, the project has resulted in 102 NPPD-seed funded research projects so far. Continue reading here.

National Hydropower Day Celebrates America’s First Renewable

National Hydropower Association News Release

“America needs the clean, flexible power provided by the nation’s first renewable resource” said Malcolm Woolf, NHA President & CEO. “From the Industrial Revolution to World War II to growth of the tech sector, hydropower has powered American innovation and ingenuity. With the right mix of energy, environmental and market policies, hydropower can contribute even more as the nation moves towards decarbonization of the grid and electrification of the transportation industry.”

In 2018, hydropower was the largest generator of clean, renewable electricity, representing 7% of total U.S. electricity generation and 39.5% of renewable electricity generation. The U.S. hydropower fleet is comprised of approximately 2,200 power plants with a total capacity of roughly 102 GW, which includes 95% of U.S. storage capacity (23 GW) pumped storage. Hydropower is also a major job creator, employing 66,500 workers. Read the entire news release here.

National Hydropower Association

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Compute North to break ground at new Kearney data center Wednesday

By Mike Konz, Kearney Hub

Compute North will be building on a 5-acre tract it is purchasing for $75,000 from the city of Kearney at Tech oNE Crossing. Nebraska Public Power District will build a substation to provide energy for the data center, which is expected to become one of NPPD’s top electrical consumers in Kearney. To operate and cool its facility, Compute North will need as much as 20 megawatts at any given time. Compute North will become the third business in Tech oNE Crossing, which currently has the Xpanxion Executive Briefing Center and the 53-acre SoCore solar farm. Read more here.

SoCore Energy Photo of Kearney’s Solar Farm. Track The Farm’s Energy Production.

Council gives nod toward solar project

By Melanie Wilkinson, York News-Times

York is ready to go green. A proposed solar site to generate electrical power in York will show the city is utilizing renewable energy and it will provide consumers an option for going green if they so choose. It also indicates the city cares about sustainability through conservation and other programs that protect the environment and its resources. Craig Vincent, Nebraska Public Power District Account Manager, explained to the York City Council this past week that NPPD has been doing community solar projects for the last two years. Continue reading here.

SoCore Energy Photo of Kearney’s Solar Farm. Track The Farm’s Energy Production.

NPPD’s SunWise Community Solar Program

Previously Posted

More news stories, editorials and releases about Nebraska’s Community-Scale / Utility-Scale Solar projects and developers.

Community Solar Resources & Industry Jobs

The Coalition for Community Solar Access is a national Coalition of businesses and non-profits working to expand customer choice and access to solar for all American households and businesses through community solar.

“Our mission is to empower every American energy consumer with the option to choose local, clean, and affordable community solar. We work with customers, utilities, local stakeholders, and policymakers to develop and implement policies and best practices that ensure community solar programs provide a win, win, win for all, starting with the customer.”

With new board members, Omaha utility making moves toward low-carbon future

Written by Karen Uhlenhuth, Midwest Energy News / Energy News Network

The staff began looking into decarbonization options nearly two years ago, [Mary Fisher, OPPD’s vice president for energy production and nuclear decommissioning] said, but picked up the pace last fall — about the time that new board members interested in cleaner energy were elected. The change stands in contrast to the state’s largest utility, the Nebraska Public Power District, where many board members continue to downplay the urgency of climate change even after catastrophic flooding in the state earlier this year. Fisher said the board is not the only reason the utility is moving toward cleaner energy. “The factor really has been the ongoing conversation about climate change and carbon emissions nationally,” she said. “You’re seeing it on the nightly news reports, you’re seeing it in the presidential debates, you’re seeing it all over.” Read more here.

Photo by Laura King-Homan, OPPD’s The Wire: Visitors view components of the Omaha Public Power District’s Sholes Wind Farm under construction near Wayne, Nebraska in November.

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Dawson Public Power proud to be publicly owned

By Brian Neben, Lexington Clipper-Herald

LEXINGTON — Nebraska is the only state to be served entirely by public power and the Dawson Public Power District is proud of this fact and to serve their region of Central Nebraska. Dawson Public Power District, DPPD, held their annual customer tour of their facility south of Lexington on Tuesday, June 25. During the tour DPPD electrical services and policies were explained, safety demonstrations held and people could ask questions about public power. “An informed customer is our greatest asset,” said DPPD general manager Gwen Kautz. DPPD was organized in February 1937 as a part of the Rural Electrification Act passed by President Franklin Roosevelt as part of an effort to electrify rural farmsteads.

Looking to the future Kautz said “renewable energy is late coming to Nebraska, but it is coming and it will grow.” Changes will have to be made to the grid as wind, solar, batteries and stored hydro become more prevalent and traditional sources like coal, nuclear and natural gas are slowly phased out. “I predict the marriage of solar power to storable batteries will take over for the traditional energy sources,” said Kautz. She said 10 years ago she doubted the impact of renewable energy, today she has rethought that position. Read more here.

Sol Systems Photo: In 2017, Sol Systems and GenPro Energy Solutions partnered with the City of Lexington to develop, finance, and construct a 3.9 MW solar farm. The array produces enough energy to power 700 homes each year. By locking into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the City of Lexington will have 25 years of price certainty against volatile wholesale electricity rates.

Additional Recommended Reading
Charged Up About Electric Vehicles, by Gwen Kautz, General Manager, Dawson Public Power
EV Charging Station Rebate Brochure