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City staff brief PUAB on Independence Power Partners plan for generation at Blue Valley site
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Summary
Staff described a proposed project by Independence Power Partners (Exigent Energy, United Energy Trading, Rainbow Energy) to build up to ~1,000 MW at Blue Valley in two phases, explained developer roles and options for the city to purchase power or acquire assets later, and answered board questions on interconnects and local benefits.
City staff presented Nov. 20 on a proposed generation partnership called Independence Power Partners, a consortium of Exigent Energy, United Energy Trading and Rainbow Energy, which staff said would construct, own and operate new generation at the Blue Valley site.
Staff said the proposal contemplates two phases: Phase 1 of roughly 225 megawatts expected to come online in late 2027, and Phase 2 of about 775 megawatts by 2030, for roughly 1,000 MW total. Staff described the consortium members’ roles — developer experience and capital execution (Exigent), fuel procurement (United Energy Trading) and wholesale power marketing and SPP market participation (Rainbow) — and said the developers would assume financing risk while the city would retain the first option to purchase power and an option to acquire assets at the end of the lease.
Board members questioned whether the project would require transmission upgrades and interconnects; staff said two generator interconnect agreements are already in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) queue and that a February milestone will clarify whether major transmission upgrades would be triggered. Staff said the new generation would be sited on open land near the existing Blue Valley substation rather than on the old plant footprint and acknowledged some makeup water from city lines “probably” would be used but the plant itself would not use the old facility systems.
A board member asked what immediate financial benefit the city would receive. Staff said the main up‑front benefit is access to capacity and generation to attract large users without the city bearing the financing risk of building generation itself; potential lease economics and the price for the city to purchase assets at lease end are to be negotiated later and were described as "to be determined." Staff compared this to a separate battery-storage project (Able Battery), where the city receives no first-rights to stored energy, to illustrate that Independence Power Partners would provide preferential access to capacity for local offtake.
Staff said the first phase is a priority and that proceeding would support economic development efforts that require firm power capacity; they also said asset analysis and additional due diligence are the next steps.
