The Nebraska Public Power District held its January 9-10-11, 2008, Board of Directors’ meeting in Columbus, Neb. The next Board of Directors’ meeting will be held Thursday and Friday, February 14-15, 2008, in Columbus.

Guests at the meeting included Mike Donahue and Randall Jenks with Midwest Wind Energy, LLC; Jerry Palmer representing the Burt Public Power District; Mike Siefken, Gayle Goering, Lawrence Franzen, Galen Frenzen, Ray Merrell, and Ron Hostetter with Cornhusker Public Power District; Dennis Kuchar, Greg Weidner and Wayne McCormick with Elkhorn Rural Public Power District; Bruce Pontow of the Nebraska Electric G&T; Tom Black and Sherry Black from Auburn; Don Paulsen from Silver Creek; and Jack Vavra with the City of York.

Jim Bauer, who will be retiring as Beatrice City Manager and General Manager of the Board of Public Works, was recognized with a resolution by the Board for his service to the community and his continuing support of public power. The resolution will be presented to him at a future wholesale customer meeting.

The Board of Directors held its annual election of officers. Dennis Rasmussen of Lincoln was elected Board Chairman for 2008. Larry Linstrom of North Platte was elected First Vice-Chairman, Gary Thompson of Beatrice, Second Vice-Chairman; and Mary Harding of Lincoln, Secretary. The Board also re-elected Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Traci Bender as Treasurer. Donna Starzec was re-appointed as Assistant Treasurer, Christine Pillen as Deputy Assistant Secretary, Jan Modelski as Assistant Secretary and Sandy Keefover as Deputy Assistant Secretary.

The Board approved NPPD’s Legislative Policy resolution for 2008.

President and CEO Ron Asche provided a report on the District’s performance in 2007.

The Board approved the following capital projects for Cooper Nuclear Station: permanent drywell shielding for $1,500,000; a supplement to the dining facility upgrade for $120,000; emergency preparedness siren upgrade for $670,000.

The following contracts and membership dues were approved:

• Scaffold components and supporting hardware awarded to Team One Mechanical Services, LLC for $141,559;
• 990 High temperature lead wool blankets for personnel shielding was awarded to LANCS Industries, for $230,000;
• Resolution authorizing management to continue to participate as a member of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations for $954,400 for 2008;
• The continuation to participate as a member of the Utilities Service Alliance for 2008 at a cost of $120,000;
• The continuation to participate as a member of Nuclear Energy Institute for 2008 with membership dues of $253,200;
• Agreement for additional source term reduction resins and associated engineering services and licensing fees with (n,p) Energy, Inc., for $112,441;
• Agreement with International Quality Consultants, Inc., for quality oversight services during the manufacturing of the dry storage containers for $133,000;
• Amendment with Black and Veatch engineering design services for the independent spent fuel storage installation at a cost of $356,218.

The Board also rejected bids for moving a meteorological tower at Cooper and authorized management to negotiate a contract for the relocation.

The following actions were approved for Cooper Nuclear Station’s spring 2008 refueling outage:

• Engineer’s certificate to procure supplemental nuclear qualified craft labor;
• Engineer’s certificate to procure inspection and maintenance services;
• Agreement for quality control inspection personnel with DZ Atlantic for $227,956;
• Agreement with Modular Space Corporation for trailer rental in an amount of $146,099;
• And an agreement with Energy Northwest for supplemental radiation protection technicians and non licensed nuclear plant operators for $116,000.

The Board approved the following capital projects for Energy Supply: generator replacement at Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility for $152,306; water treatment system upgrade at Canaday Station for $325,000; battery replacement at Sheldon Station for $146,806; Unit 2 air heater sootblower replacements at Sheldon Station for $103,312; and main power transformer coolers at Sheldon Station for $103,600.

The following contracts were approved:

• Contract to provide labor and materials necessary for complete replacement of the Unit 1 cooling tower at Sheldon Station awarded to Midwest Towers, Inc., in a total amount of $6,131,852;
• Authorized management to sign the MISO Contingency Reserve Sharing Group agreement;
• Task authorization with Black and Veatch for an estimated amount of $140,000 to provide implementation support for the Sheldon Station Unit 1 cooling tower replacement project;
• Resolution to support the proposal and approval of the District’s filing of an application to receive grant money from the United States Bureau of Reclamation to support the District’s irrigation system optimization study;
• And an agreement for Energy Storage Options Analysis with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The Board accepted NPPD’s November 2007 financial statements. Traci Bender, vice president and chief financial officer, reported that the District ended November with a surplus of $2.1 million. The year-to-date surplus through November is $25.8 million.

The Board approved the proposed 2008 retail rate and large industrial rate schedules: There will be no increase for residential, small commercial, electric irrigation, and lighting classes. Cost-of-service studies conducted in 2007 indicated the need for rate increases to four retail customer classes that will go into effect May 1, 2008: large commercial (7.5 percent), commercial electric space heating (8.2 percent), and industrial (9 percent), and large industrial service (10.5 percent).

The Board approved the following capital projects for Customer Services: Bloomfield substation expansion for $2,577,491; the purchase of a 72-foot work platform and chassis at Norfolk for $240,000; the purchase of mobile circuit switcher at York Operations Center for $175,000; the construction of garage/office facilities at Milford for $178,038 and at Tilden for $144,018; and for the mobile inventory management application at Columbus for $168,068.

The following items were also approved:

• A contract for 115 kilovolt (kV) mobile transformer was awarded to Delta Star, Inc., for a price of $1,498,147;
• Contract for construction of a Kearney plant substation (University of Nebraska - Kearney) was awarded to Kayton Electric, Inc., for a price of $242,425;
• Contract for steel strand overhead ground wire, awarded to Kriz-Davis Co., for a price of $332,120;
• Contract with Berghorst & Sons, Inc., in the amount of $169,044 to transport a 230/115kV transformer and components from the North Platte substation to the Twin Church substation in Dakota City;
• An agreement with Distribution Control Systems, Inc., in the amount of $134,500 to provide additional automated meter reading hardware to be installed at the Twin Church, Humboldt, Plattsmouth West, Plattsmouth South, and Nehawka substations;

The Board recognized the retirements of Rick D. Drake, Senior Construction Technician at the York Operations Center; Dennis R. Stahlecker, Planner at Cooper Nuclear Station; Thomas H. Black, Engineer at Cooper Nuclear Station; Barbara F. Sypal, Records Analyst at the Columbus General Office; and Donald G. Paulsen, Local Manager III at Silver Creek.