The Beatrice Power Station received provisional acceptance for commercial operation on January 7, 2005. An important part of NPPD's long-term energy supply strategy, the Beatrice Power Station was primarily built for three reasons: to act as a hedge against an unforeseen extended outage occurring at one of NPPD's major power plants; to help meet future electric load growth in NPPD's native service area; and to give NPPD's electric power generation added fuel diversity.

The Station uses two combustion turbines and one steam turbine in tandem, called "combined-cycle," to achieve a greater percentage of energy output efficiency. This configuration allows for greater flexibility in meeting load demands. For instance, the plant can run with one or two combustion turbine(s); one combustion and the steam turbine or all three units together. Beatrice Power Station can generate 250 megawatts of power.

Original project costs were estimated/budgeted at $241 million. Project costs were re-baselined in the spring of 2003 and reduced to $209 million. Procurement changes to some design configurations resulted in a final cost of less than $200 million.

The site for the new plant is in the Beatrice area of Gage County/Beatrice. This site was selected because of its access to major natural gas pipelines and existing electric transmission infrastructure.

Site selection criteria included access to major natural gas pipelines, existing electric transmission infrastructure, water supply and wastewater discharge. Minimization of impact on neighbors, proximity to roads, flood plain, airport and other parameters were considered in the site screening process.

Plant personnel include 14 positions.