Baldwin City weigh options between GRDA baseload, Pratt County solar and municipal projects

Baldwin City councilors and utility consultants spent a work session examining how much baseload power to retain under the city's Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) contract and whether to join a 200-megawatt large-scale solar project in Pratt County or pursue municipal/community solar.

Consultant (Speaker 1) told councilors Baldwin City currently holds a 3 MW GRDA allocation covering about 60'1% of the city's annual energy needs and recommended ratcheting that down to roughly 2 MW, which he said equates to about 40% of annual energy. "A 2 megawatt allocation would represent about 40% of your annual energy needs," Speaker 1 said, adding that the reduction would let the city stack intermediate and peaking resources on top of a stable foundation.

Why it matters: GRDA provides guaranteed 24/7 baseload supply and the council was told the GRDA product historically has provided rate stability. Speaker 1 explained GRDA's blended fleet includes coal, hydro, wind and an increasing share of natural gas, and he said GRDA has improved hedging to reduce exposure. "GRDA is hedging anywhere from 70 to 90% of where spot gas could go," Speaker 1 said.

Pratt County project and timing: The consultant described a Pratt County large-scale solar project (the transcript refers to it as Nenisgaal/Neniscal Flats) that would be roughly 200 MW and involve about 33'34 cities; KMEA has about 80 MW subscribed. Speaker 1 warned the developer needs subscriber agreements secured to finalize procurement and financing and aims for late-2026/early-2027 commercial operation. Council members were told the city must decide on Pratt participation at the next regular council meeting because the developer's procurement timeline is constrained.

Own, PPA or community solar: Council discussion focused on trade-offs between owning municipal solar (bonding or capital outlay plus land acquisition and O&M risks) and joining the Pratt project under a long-term PPA. Speaker 1 cautioned that buyouts carry long-term O&M and equipment-lifespan uncertainty, while a PPA is "pay-as-you-go" with less upfront capital: "The cons with that is that these facilities haven't been around long enough for us to really calculate the O and M," he said.

Battery storage: The Pratt project was described as offering a battery-storage add-on; the consultant said the option exists but is not economical today, citing an estimated incremental cost on the order of $12'$13 per kW-month compared with cheaper alternatives currently.

Reliability and backup generation: Councilors revisited lessons from Winter Storm Uri, noting solar and wind can be unavailable in extreme conditions and that the city's local generation and diesel storage act as a backstop. City staff (Speaker 6) reported current diesel reserves would allow all four municipal units to run about 84 hours, a reliability buffer if market purchases are necessary.

Next steps: Council members varied in their comfort levels for GRDA sizing (comments ranged roughly from 1 MW to 2 MW of GRDA depending on how much additional solar or community projects the city pursues). Speaker 3 emphasized that the Pratt participation decision needs to be made at the next council meeting, while the GRDA extension sizing can be resolved in the first quarter of 2026 (the transcript notes the GRDA contract expires 04/30/2026).

The council did not take formal action during the work session and directed staff and consultants to return with more detailed pricing, O&M estimates, and land-cost scenarios to inform the Pratt decision and the later GRDA sizing decision.