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OPPD tells Sarpy County commissioners it has added generation and is planning more to meet rapid growth
Summary
Omaha Public Power District officials reported recent additions and planned expansions of generating capacity, transmission and substations to support rising demand in Sarpy County tied to housing, commercial growth and large data centers.
Omaha Public Power District officials on Tuesday briefed the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners on a surge in electricity demand and the utility’s work to add generating capacity, transmission lines and substations to preserve reliability.
Tim McRaevey, OPPD vice president for customer service and public affairs, told commissioners that the utility has moved from almost no load growth in 2016–18 to requests that at times approach or exceed 100 megawatts a year. He said OPPD has brought new natural-gas and solar resources online and contracted many renewable megawatts to respond.
McRaevey said OPPD has added two gas-fired stations — Turtle Creek (near 168th and Fairview Road) and Standing Bear Lake (near 120th and Military) — and a solar farm, Platte View Solar in Saunders County. “Turtle Creek station . . . will have the ability to generate about 450 megawatts,” he said, and Standing Bear Lake about 150 megawatts. He also said Platte View Solar is an approximately 81-megawatt facility that came online in May of last year.
The utility described an additional package of capacity that includes a planned expansion at Turtle Creek (an additional engine of roughly 225 megawatts) and adding roughly 675 megawatts by installing three engines at an existing Cass County facility. McRaevey also said OPPD has contracted more than 1,300 megawatts of renewable generation in recent years.
McRaevey said OPPD expects some of the new resources to reach final accreditation with the Southwest Power Pool by midyear, though accreditation timelines and long lead times for large components — such as transformers — remain constraints. He said the Turtle Creek facility is operable and being tested now and that interim accreditation allows limited operation while OPPD pursues full SPP accreditation.
Commissioners asked about the new units’ fuel capability, how often the units would run, and the role of data centers in demand growth. McRaevey said the new units were built with dual-fuel capability — natural gas plus fuel oil — to improve reliability and to meet accreditation requirements. He said modeling projects Turtle Creek to run roughly 15–18 percent of the time, “but its whole point for being there is to be able to generate when we and our businesses need electricity.”
On data centers, McRaevey said demand can vary widely by customer but that some data campuses can reach “hundreds of megawatts” of capacity as they expand. He said data-center customers generally take market-rate service that passes wholesale cost volatility through to the customer and can participate as offtakers on renewable projects to meet sustainability goals.
The utility also described local transmission and distribution investments: substation expansions in Gretna and Bellevue, the completed Sarpy Southwest transmission project, the planned Cass-to-Sarpy transmission project, and a 180th Street corridor infrastructure project. McRaevey said these projects and planned distribution work are aimed at maintaining reliability and affordability across OPPD’s footprint.
Commissioners raised security concerns. McRaevey said OPPD has an “intense focus” on both physical security and cybersecurity, adheres to North American Electric Reliability Corporation requirements for bulk electric assets, and participates with law enforcement and intelligence agencies on threat awareness.
Why it matters: Sarpy County leaders said they expect rapid growth as sewer and other infrastructure come online and want to coordinate with OPPD to avoid surprises in electric service and reliability. OPPD’s briefing outlines both near-term operating steps and longer-term investments that will affect how and when new development receives service.
McRaevey and other OPPD staff said they would follow up with commissioners on certain details — such as precise employment projections for plant expansions and timing/location specifics for additional engines — and welcomed continued coordination with county planners.
