2021 Integrated Resource Plan

OPPD should set yearly goals on how much carbon it will put into the air. Those goals should reach net-zero by 2030. Since reaching that goal by 2035 causes only a tiny increase in rates, it probably wouldn't cost that much more to get it done by 2030.

Not stopping burning fossil fuels by 2030 will cost Nebraskans, Americans and people around the world a LOT more. I'm willing to pay more to meet a goal of 2030.

Mark Welsch
Customer/Owner

Here is another news report about how burning fossil fuels is going to impact our country with one-foot higher sea levels. This will cost US taxpayers billions more in damages. OPPD needs to play a role in stopping the burning of fossil fuels much more quickly - even more quickly than 2035. OPPD's board needs to endorse a carbon fee and dividend, just like Lincoln Electric System.

Here is the news story about a one-foot sea level rise by 2050. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/02/15/sea-level-rise-2050-climate/

It is past time for OPPD to get serious about the environmental part of their mission statement. It is always the second or third consideration in decisions made by OPPD's management and board. Sometimes it isn't considered at all.

I hope that OPPD and the public remember that these are 5-year plans that have changed dramatically from even the last couple that have been issued. With completely different forecast and future plans. With that said it is likely there will be significant changes in the next IRP and the following.

OPPD board and management will NOT be putting the utility at great risk because corrections will be made as things change.

The one thing that is known is that there are cleaner ways to provide power to the public than coal and gas and OPPD needs to try its best to achieve a cleaner future for all. We are counting on you to lead.

NC1 and NC2 are producing around 70% of all power production and well over 90% of the emissions. There should be an emphasis on NC1 and NC2 becoming hybrid sites with solar being built initially to match the unit ratings and use the existing approval of these units on the SPP grid and their transmission to quickly add enough solar/storage to reduce NC1/NC2 capacity factors and their emissions.

The option of solar and wind addition being bid with some amount of storage at the sites to help reliability and improve SPP rating accreditation does not seem to be considered. Even a few hours of storage at a site would make a dramatic improvement to the system reliability and it's potential acceditation.

The assumption in the IRP seems to be that lithium storage is the likely storage option going forward. Since the storage utilities need for the grid is stationary and does not need to be light or compact there is no reason to believe lithium with be main option. Other options will likely be available and should be considered.

The dismissal of the potential of EV vechicle to grid to be used as storage to offset system peaks seems like a major oversite since by 2030 if not sooner all the EVs will very likely have V2G standard.

Geothermal HVAC and HVAC with thermal storage both have the potential to dramatically reduce system peaks if pursued aggressively since HVAC makes up most of the peaks. Yet it does not seem that it is taken as a major item.

Since most if not all of the solar and wind to be added by OPPD will be with PPP's it would seem that the fact that the capital investment on OPPD's part is mainly in the interconnection (transmission, substations). The presentation and the IRP don't make this clear and resulted in comments of many billions of capital being spent.

Consideration of putting as much of the wind additions closer to the OPPD territory. Possibly using taller towers if necessary. The economic benefit should be localized if possible.

It would seem placing a very large solar farm south along Hwy 50 would be a good option since there is such a large amount of constant loads with Facebook and such.

On potential limits of adding large amounts of renewable being the plan/site/approval/budget/build process being very long for transmission and substation. The IRP needs to better identify the significant amount of transmission/substation work in the next 10 years to support it.

OPPD 's current management should not be held responsible for unfortunate decisions made by previous well-intentioned management. OPPD, and I, both began burning coal in 1946 when little was known about how damaging the pollutants from coal are to our health.

Ultrafine particles released during the combustion of coal can have more than 100 square yards of surface area per gram. Mercury and lead condense on those surfaces. Then, radioactive and electrically charged radon progeny accumulate on those particles that enter our brains via the olfactory nerves and our bodies via the lungs. Alpha particles emitted by radon progeny at about 5% of the speed of light, can damage DNA in ways that initiate cancerous mutations in some cells and the death of other cells.

Our group of medical doctors, physicists, and other researchers has found: 1. Radon progeny in samples of tissues from all parts of the brain of an Alzheimer's victim. 2. Radon progeny in the bone marrow where the alpha particles decimate the hematopoietic stem cells that produce red blood cells and the various immune cells.

I am thankful that OPPD's current management team and board of directors are making substantial progress in helping to create a healthy and prosperous future for all of us.

Further details, including research reports, graphs, and other corroborating evidence are available on request.

OPPD, and its customers, can accelerate the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by upgrading the energy efficiency of homes, and other buildings in ways that also minimize indoor air pollution. Example: When buying a home with a 30-year loan at 4% interest, a buyer can afford to pay nearly $20,000 additional for each $100 reduction in average monthly utility bills because doing so does not increase the buyer's total average monthly sum for utility and mortgage payments.

If OPPD invested in making a home or other building, safer and more energy-efficient it could collect the monthly savings on fuel and electricity due to OPPD’s investment without increasing the buyer's total average monthly sum for utility and mortgage. payments. Doing so would help OPPD to reduce: 1. Greenhouse gas emissions. 2. Costs of adding OPPD generating capacity. 3. Emissions of toxic particles and gasses from OPPD's power plants and the combustion of fuels in the buildings owned by OPPD's customers.

"The safest, most comfortable, and highly energy-efficient buildings are tight, highly insulated, and adequately ventilated with fresh filtered air.
The resale value of a home typically increases up to $25 for each $1 reduction of annual utility bills”.
—Sam Rashkin: Chief architect of the Building Technologies Office in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

Power with Purpose was presented as an expansion of clean energy generation, with 600 MW of renewable power, combined with an equal amount of natural gas-fueled power as backup, to be rarely used. Construction of the backup is well under way (expected completion in 2023), but no expected date for most of the clean generation. I am concerned that the backup may turn out to be more like baseload. I would like to see more specific explanation of the progress of the renewable portion of the Power with Purpose.

I'm relieved to see OPPD addressing Climate change. I find myself worried that it's not being addressed quickly enough to make the necessary difference in our children's future. 2050 for the Zero goal seem like kicking the can too far down the road, to deal with the increasing pace of Climate change. 2035 Zero is not unreasonable. Further I'm concerned about the increased reliance on hydro when many of those facilities are in a drought. Nebraska would do well for it's self if it could capitalize on the vast wind generated her more then is in the plan currently. In closing I'd like to thank the board for taking these first steps for a better future for our kids.

It is appalling to see that OPPD is trying to add 600 MW of NEW natural gas/propane/fuel oil-based generators in 2023. These are going to become stranded assets in a few years. If this happened in any other state, the state’s public service/utility commission (PUC/PSC) would have asked the incumbent utility to provide a report to prove that renewables+storage alternatives don’t work to serve the intended purpose. There were numerous IRP cases across the country where new natural gas projects were rejected by the state PUC/PSCs on exactly similar grounds. If carbon tax becomes a federal mandate, I am afraid that the Omaha ratepayers will be struck with this capital burden for years. Besides, it was clearly shown during the 2021 polar vortex of SPP and ERCOT where majority of natural gas pipelines froze and failed to provide any resiliency which is being touted by the OPPD team and their current CEO for a long time.

OPPD’s solar procurements are all transmission connected projects which are often delayed by SPP interconnection timeline that is currently at around 5-year lag, which tells us that none of the 519 MW projects will come online before 2027 provided the interconnection applications were already submitted to the SPP queue in 2022. OPPD has an extensive network of distribution grid. If their decarbonization goals are not greenwashing, they could explore projects interconnecting to the distribution electric grid removing a layer of regulatory hurdle in the name of SPP. They can take some notes from the Nebraskan cities of Lexington, Kearney, Hastings, Fremont, Scottsbluff, South Sioux City, Lincoln, Superior etc. which all built solar projects connected to the distribution grid. On the same note, there is no mention of Community Solar at all in the IRP! A public power by the people needs to serve people, perhaps?

The size of Li-ion battery that is proposed in the next 5 years is 1 MW, SERIOUSLY! Do you know that in 2021 alone there are 5,300 MWs of Li-ion storage that was installed across the country? Out of which, 87% are utility-scale installations. Even a small Nebraskan public power district in Burt County installed 2 MW of battery storage, so 1 MW storage that too with NET grant funds is a joke for a 2500-MW utility!

There is absolutely no way that continuing to operate the existing coal infrastructure is an economic winner especially with inflated fuel costs and transportation costs. Rocky mountain institute has conducted a cost analysis for Tristate G&T to show how much they could save by retiring coal plants and transitioning to renewables and storage. If the memory serves right, it was around $600 million for 1 GW coal retirements. OPPD should also conduct a similar cost analysis to evaluate the burden of operating coal plants.

Moreover, I am not sure how OPPD intends to achieve another 1,100 MW of solar, 500 MW of wind, and 150 MW of energy storage in the last three years of the decade if they don’t start now! SPP interconnections alone will take 5 years! Just as Buffet once did with Hedge funds, I am willing to take a long bet at https://longbets.org/ against this flawed plan.

You should change the date to have net-zero carbon emissions from 2050 to 2035. Waiting until 2050 will cause more harm to Nebraska's Ag Economy. Why wait?

Thanks to OPPD for their Pathway to Decarbonization Initiative to achieve net carbon zero by 2050.

I would love to see the goal moved to 2035. Data from experts all over the planet in a myriad of disciplines suggests we are careening towards catastrophic climate related issues teetering on systemic collapse. The consequences will make the current pandemic seem trivial by comparison.

As explained in the Decarbonization Initiative, net zero carbon by 2035 is achievable at a minimal cost. This would bring so many co-benefits to the community, I would love to see OPPD push towards this goal.

I want OPPD's board to change their date to have net-zero carbon emissions from 2050 to 2035. Waiting until 2050 will cause more harm to Nebraska's Ag Economy.

Mark Welsch
Customer/Owner of OPPD

At page 61 of the Draft Final Report Pathways to Decarbonization report it is written, "For the Net Zero cases, the total cost impacts are directionally aligned between the cases, at approximately $1 billion/yr (real 2020$) in incremental costs by 2050 (or 2% of Omaha GDP)." Elsewhere in the report it is asserted that rates will only increase 8-22% by 2050; less than the Fed's target inflation rate.

OPPD is engaging in pure alchemy and sophistry if it thinks it can spend $28B and electric rates will rise less than inflation. OPPD is going to evaporate $28B as part of a virtue signaling-Keynesian experiment that will drive many ratepayers into energy poverty.

BTW, Rystad Energy reported in October 2021 that the cost of photovoltaic models has increased 50% in the second half of 2021 and polysilicon is up 300% from July 2020.

Please OPPD. Don't crucify Nebraskans on a cross of wind turbine blades!

David D. Begley
Customer-owner

Thanks to OPPD for being on the Pathway to Decarbonization. It is the right direction to take in a climate-threatened world. My only request would be to speed up the process to reach your final goal of becoming decarbonized. When time is of the essence, 2035 is a better choice to achieve this goal.
A. Duey

Thanks for the detailed workshops on decarbonization and the public explanation of your IRP. Two thoughts:
MidAmerican is able to charge its Iowa customers less than OPPD, while getting 88% of their electricity from renewables (OWH, 2/15/22) quoting Geo Greenwood).
There is no doubt that clean energy is cost effective. And I appreciate the courtesy with which you have responded to the misguided accusations that decarbonization will cost more than you are admitting. Such statements are simply wrong. Keep including all of us, even the wrong headed naysayers, in your plans.
I would also like to encourage OPPD to consider building excess wind and solar so that when it becomes cost effective, you will be able to use the extra energy to produce hydrogen and have it available when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. Reliable, safe, and carbon free.

Thank you for all your hard work and efforts with the Pathways Study. I am confident in OPPD's ability to provide customers with reliable and affordable energy as OPPD works to decarbonize. The TRUE cost of climate change and business as usual is just too high. According to the study it appears a 2035 target date is not that much different than a 2050 target date. I am hoping OPPD will highly consider the 2035 option including interim metrics to achieve these goals.

1. I want to thank OPPD for their Pathway to Decarbonization Initiative to achieve net carbon zero by 2050.
2. Impressive to note that it is not that much more expensive to achieve 2035 net zero carbon as explained in the Pathway to Decarbonization.
3. Would like to see interim goals on how OPPD will achieve net zero.
4. Since climate change is such an urgent issue and can lead to a healthier Omaha, why doesn’t OPPD push for a 2035 net carbon goal?

Thank you OPPD for working on the Pathways to Decarbonization to achieve net zero carbon by 2050. However, it appears that 2035 is quite a doable pathway with not that much added expense that coupled with the health benefits that Omahans will enjoy that this pathway should be looked at as a more viable option. Also, I would like to see interim metrics to achieve these goals. OPPD should be lowering their carbon footprint as soon as possible.

It's difficult to separate the IRP and the Pathways for Decarbonization since they will work together. For the next five years there was a chart that listed 12 upcoming initiatives but without rationales about the years that they will be implemented and without any details. For example, I am happy to see solar incentives listed for 2022 but curious as to why weatherization rebates are not schedules until 2025. All on the list are to be commended but I hope details as to how the timelines were arrived at will be made available soon.