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Final resource plan for NPPD sees no need for new resources through 2022

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Final resource plan for NPPD sees no need for new resources through 2022

The Nebraska Public Power District board of directors on March 8 signed off on a new integrated resource plan that calls for no new resources over the next five years.

Covering 2018 through 2022, the plan shows that Nebraska Public Power District's, or NPPD's, existing resources can serve load and planning reserve obligations over that period. For instance, under the baseload forecast, NPPD is expected to have 415 MW of surplus capacity in 2022. Under the high load forecast, NPPD is expected to have 129 MW of surplus capacity.

NPPD spokesman Mark Becker said the public power utility will begin the integrated resource plan, or IRP, process again in about four years in order to have a new plan in place by 2023. Whether it will look ahead five years or a period of 10 or 20 years will be determined by factors like load growth, new technologies, trends in the industry, battery storage and environmental regulations, he said.

For this round, NPPD looked at a shorter time frame than a typical 20-year horizon, partly to account for changes and uncertainty in both the electric utility industry and the environmental regulatory landscape. The Southwest Power Pool, which includes NPPD's service territory, has seen a significant addition in the amount of renewable resources in recent years, the plan noted. At the end of 2012, SPP had just under 3,100 MW. By the end of 2016, the nameplate rating of wind grew to more than 16,000 MW. Another 31,000 MW of wind and 3,100 MW of solar were in the generation interconnection queue as of May 2017, the plan said. Building only a portion of this proposed amount would significantly affect the wholesale energy market, the plan said.

According to the plan, waiting to make a plan for future resources until there is more certainty will lead to better decisions. During the board meeting, director Mary Harding said the last IRP, in 2013, was a massive undertaking. Shrinking the scope was a good idea, but perhaps it went too far, she said.

"In my view, we shrunk it to the point where in terms of cost and reliability, I don't feel I can do my job to assure our customers that we are, in fact, offering the lowest cost fuel mix because we didn't evaluate a number of options that maybe we could have," Harding said.

Director Thomas Hoff, however, said he failed to see what a 20-year IRP at this time would accomplish as there are so many potential changes ahead.

NPPD should continue to evaluate carbon management options at its coal-fired 1,365-MW Gerald Gentleman and 215-MW Sheldon power plants and gas-fired 220-MW Beatrice plant, the plan said. It also recommended that NPPD monitor the impact of manufacturer Monolith Materials' Olive Creek Facility in Hallam, Neb., which will produce carbon black, used in reinforcing tires and other industrial rubber products. Once the facility is complete, Monolith will be the largest industrial customer served in NPPD's territory.