Consultant advises Crawford County on renewable projects, says two interconnection requests are active

Oleg Alba, a municipal advisory consultant with Akers Strong, told the Crawford County Commission on April 10 that his firm helps local governments negotiate developer payments and analyze renewable-energy and data-center proposals.

"My name is Oleg Alba. I am with Akers Strong," Alba said, describing his background in the military, on Wall Street and in energy development. He said his firm negotiates what he called the largest pilot payment in Kansas history and can provide references to other counties. Alba told commissioners his team maintains a database of interconnection requests and that "I'm hovering over Crawford and there's two interconnection" requests currently active for the county.

Alba described the typical developer–municipal dynamic and warned commissioners that companies generally present the positive case to local officials while withholding detailed revenue information. He described his role as advising the governing body and, if directed, negotiating on the county's behalf and said his fees are typically reimbursed by the developer. "You enter into a compensation with the developers... they reimburse you for our fees," he said.

Commissioners asked how the firm operates publicly and whether consultants would advocate before residents. Alba said his direction comes exclusively from the governing body and that he does not try to persuade the public: he provides technical review and negotiation support. He offered to provide a list of reference counties and contact information to the county clerk.

The presentation covered energy types the firm tracks (wind, solar, gas, data-center demand) and the firm's intelligence-gathering methods, which Alba described as open-source monitoring and proprietary software that logs megawatts, project comments and interconnection status. He said no active data-center projects were currently on file for Crawford County.

The commission took no formal action at the meeting on the presentation; Alba said he would leave contact information with the clerk for commissioners who want follow-up.