The Nebraska Public Power District held its December 13-14, 2007, Board of Directors’ meeting in Columbus, Neb. The next Board of Directors’ meeting will be held Thursday and Friday, January 10-11, 2008, in Columbus.

Guests at the meeting included Dennis Weiler, Ed Kaup, Clarence Heimann, Elton Rabe and Elwood Moore with Cuming County Public Power District, Bruce Pontow of the Nebraska Electric G&T, Willis VanRoekel of Ames Construction, Inc., and Adrian Sanchez with The Columbus Telegram.

The Board approved a capital project for replacement of the service water pump at Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) in the amount of $460,500. A contract to provide instrument and control support services for the CNS Spring 2008 Refueling Outage was awarded to Ames, Inc., for an estimated price of $1,506,370; and an engineer’s certificate for $21,300,000 was approved to procure the materials and services necessary to support completion of an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) Facility at CNS. The Board approved a resolution to negotiate, develop and to enter into an amendment with Global Nuclear Fuels – America, LLC and General Electric Company to provide for extended and expanded fuel bundle fabrication and related services at CNS. Also approved was a resolution authorizing management to negotiate, develop and enter into an amendment with United States Enrichment Corporation for nuclear fuel materials and services.

An amendment was approved with Scientific Technical Services, Inc., for an estimated amount of $183,100 providing for a lead licensing engineer through Dec. 31, 2008. An amendment with WD Associates, Inc., was approved for staff augmentation at CNS for an estimated amount of $200,000. The Board approved a task authorization with Sargent & Lundy, LLC to provide engineering service for an estimated amount of $459,700; a task authorization with Rocky Mountain Engineering for staff augmentation for an estimated amount of $250,143, and a task authorization with Rocky Mountain Engineering for a licensing engineer for an estimated amount of $310,000.

Capital projects related to Energy Supply were approved as follows: communications system upgrade at Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS) for $1,083,496; replacement of a heating ventilation and air conditioning chiller at GGS for $330,000; wind tower/blade work platform at the Ainsworth Wind Facility for $112,400; B-1 condensate hotwell pump motor replacement at GGS for $122,000; Phase 1 of a track expansion project at GGS for $6,106,289; and meteorological towers and installation at various locations for $172,000.

The Board awarded Energy Supply contracts that included the following: grit blasting and vacuuming services at GGS to PSC Industrial Outsourcing, Inc., for an estimated base bid price of $2,898,000; track expansion project at GGS to Ames Construction, Inc., for an estimated base bid price of $4,295,030; chiller replacement at GGS, awarded to Snell Services, Inc., for $278,854; and communications upgrade at GGS, awarded to GAI-Tronics for $322,489.

An amendment was approved with SSA Security, Inc., for an estimated amount of $125,000 for plant support technicians at GGS. The Board also approved new rates for the District’s delivery of irrigation water. The Board authorized the use of $45,000 in additional funding from the District’s Domestic Energy Research and Application Initiative toward the purchase of five wind monitoring towers for a total cost of $310,000. The Board also approved funding from the District’s Domestic Energy Research and Application Initiative for $9,498 to cover additional costs related to the purchase of a portable wind monitor for a total cost of $84,498.

The Board accepted NPPD’s October 2007 financial statements. Traci Bender, vice president and chief financial officer, reported that the District ended October with a surplus of $4.7 million. The year-to-date surplus through October is $23.7 million. The Board approved Bulk Transmission Service Wholesale Rates and General Firm Power Service Wholesale Rates for 2008.

A renewal with Itron was approved in the amount of $110,883 to provide annual maintenance and support for the wholesale billing software, and a renewal was approved for the software license and services agreement with Ventryx for $127,725 for updates to the District’s retail billing software.

Capital projects related to Customer Services & Energy Delivery were approved as follows: ADM co-generation substation work at Columbus for $1,400,000; power circuit breaker replacement at Alda for $145,800; 115-kilovolt (kV) substation upgrade and transformer at Sutton for $4,200,000; partial refurbishment of a transmission line from Columbus to David City for $160,000; partial refurbishment of a transmission line from David City to Wahoo for $450,000; 34.5-kV line refurbishment – Phase 1 from Hemingford to Chadron for $334,162; 115-kV substation upgrade and transformer at Wahoo for $3,606,971; and 120 Ft. insulated aerial lift addition at Kearney for $506,356.

A contract was awarded to Kayton Electric, Inc., for a base bid of $444,621 for the Minden 115kV substation refurbishment, and a contract for relay/control panels for Minden and Sutton substations, awarded to Keystone Electrical Manufacturing Co., for a base bid of $240,598. A contract for energy management system hardware, software, and network equipment was awarded to Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Inc., in two parts with Part I for a base bid of $408,638 and Part III for a base bid of $28,910. An amendment was approved with Brink Constructors, Inc., in an amount not-to-exceed $197,000 for labor to refurbish the 115-kV transmission lines from Mission to Valentine.

A software support agreement with Siemens Power Transmission & Distribution, Inc., was approved in the amount of $1,113,840. A sum of $1,000 was accepted for the sale of 0.01 acres of NPPD land in Madison County (Norfolk) to the State of Nebraska. An amendment was awarded to Alanz, Inc., for an estimated amount of $180,000 for staff augmentation services to support software applications.

The 2008 Merit Pay Program was approved by the Board establishing a merit funding amount of $5,345,483.

The Board recognized the retirements of Carol E. Splichal, Security Officer at Cooper Nuclear Station, Steven R. Viter, Mechanical Leader at Gerald Gentleman Station, Terry L. Overbeck, Shift Leader at Sheldon Station, and Harry F. Reitz, Surveyor at North Platte.