Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) is a public electric utility in the state of Nebraska. It is wholly owned by the Nebraska state government, and controlled by a special district. OPPD serves more than 855,000 people in Omaha and 13 surrounding counties in southeast eastern Nebraska. OPPD was formed in 1946 as a political subdivision of the State of Nebraska, taking over the operations of the privately owned Nebraska Power Company. Nebraska is the only US state in which all electric utilities are government owned. A publicly elected eight-member Board of Directors sets rates and policies.
History The Nebraska Unicameral created OPPD as a division of the state government on December 2, 1946. It acquired the Maine-based Nebraska Power Company for $42,000,000 after a four-year political struggle. Prior to its acquisition, NPC was the only privately owned remaining in the state. In January 1965, the Eastern Nebraska Public Power District was merged into OPPD, adding four counties to its service area. In September 1973, OPPD's Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station entered commercial service. In 1996, OPPD purchased a rail line running from Lincoln to Nebraska City from BNSF Railway. In 2014, OPPD joined the newly created Southwest Power Pool. In December 2019, the board of the Omaha Public Power District voted to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050. A 400- to 600-megawatt solar array is planned, as is the closing of three gas-fired power units, and the conversion of two coal-burning units to natural gas. In 2021, due to a storm, OPPD experienced its largest-ever outage, affecting 188,000 customers.
OPPD was named "Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Midsize Utilities in the Midwest" in the J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.J.D. Power and Associates In 2012, OPPD was awarded its 12th J.D. Power and Associates award.
Facilities
+ OPPD-owned generating facilities NameTotalunitsBegan OperatingLocation(nearest city)FuelCapacityTypeCass County Station22003(Murray, NE)Natural Gas314 MWPeakingElk City Station82002(Bennington, NE)Landfill gas5 MWBaseloadJones Street Station21973(Omaha, NE)Fuel Oil115 MWPeakingNebraska City 111979(Nebraska City, NE)Coal650 MWBaseloadNebraska City 212009(Nebraska City, NE)Coal687 MWBaseloadNorth Omaha 1–3 31954(North Omaha, NE)Natural Gas240 MWPeakingNorth Omaha 4 & 521963(North Omaha, NE)Coal324 MWBaseloadSarpy County Station51972(Bellevue, NE)Natural gas312 MWPeakingStanding Bear Lake Station92024(Omaha, NE)Natural gas162 MWPeakingTurtle Creek Station22024(Gretna, NE)Natural gas550 MWPeaking
OPPD formerly operated the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station near Fort Calhoun. After 42 years of operation (interrupted by flooding from 2011 to 2013), the plant was shut down on October 25, 2016, and is in the process of being decommissioned. OPPD operates other generating stations in North Omaha, Nebraska City, Valley, Elkhorn and in Cass County; coal, natural gas, oil, wind turbines, solar, and landfill gas are used to generate electricity at their power plants.
OPPD also purchases 81 megawatts of hydroelectricity capacity from the Western Area Power Administration. OPPD has the exclusive rights to power from two privately-operated solar power stations of 5 and 81 megawatts in Fort Calhoun and Saunders County respectively.
See also List of power stations in Nebraska Metropolitan Utilities District
References
External links
OPPD outage map The Wire, OPPD's news publication