City of Beatrice to move forward toward power plant project

BEATRICE – The City of Beatrice will proceed with the long-term process of building a natural gas-fired electric generation station to provide additional power capacity and sell any excess power to other partners or on the open market.

Faced with power costs expected to explode in the coming years, the city council voted Tuesday night to forge ahead with steps to develop the plant at a site northwest of Beatrice.

"This project, as we envision in right now, would serve not only the city's capacity needs, but also those of some partners that have expressed some strong interest in participating in this. The site you have there is very good. It has great gas access, it has good transmission access. It's on city-owned land, it's not next to a school, it's not next to a park. It's five miles from the Homestead monument...you can't see it from there."

John Krajewski of J-K Energy Consultants said the main reasons for power costs rising in the future is the demand of data centers springing up across the country, and the aftermath of a February, 2021 polar vortex where energy was in short supply and there were rolling blackouts.

"This is a big deal to the city, and it enables you to control your own destiny. You're not relying on the market, you're not relying on the good will of the SPP...you're not relying on somebody giving you a sweetheart deal. You're putting in the project that will give you the lowest cost...looking at things right now. It will basically give you an asset that's going to serve the city for 30, 40 years into the future."

Krajewski detailed the types of equipment that could be used in a gas-fired power plant…a project that could cost up to $400 million dollars, backed by revenue bonds.

Initial steps include developing partnerships for the purchase of power from the facility….developing and issuing bid specifications….and getting approval from the Southwest Power Pool for connections to transmission lines. Mayor Bob Morgan said the project would not rely on general tax support.

"I just want to make the point that these are revenue bonds...which does not obligate the city from taxpayers and those types of things. It will come from the revenue that we generate from the power plant, to pay it off...and that's, I think, a significant piece that we have to make sure that people understand."

City Councilman Gary Barnard said the project is a necessary step for the community to not be tied into higher prices of purchased power on the open market.

"The real threat is, what if we don't do it? We all know the consequences...if we don't, we need to study some more. So, as the public asks those questions as we move on from tonight, we've got to make sure we give them the true facts...not an opinion that we have as individuals...but the real facts...so we don't undersell what we're trying to do."

Krajewski recommends that the plant be operated by an entity separate from the city, through an interlocal agreement with partners in the project.

The city has been working with Burns McDonnell and HDR Engineering on the project, having spent over $200,000 on studies of the project, so far.