The Nebraska Public Power District held its January 8-9, 2009, Board of Directors’ meeting in Columbus, Neb. The next Board of Directors’ meeting will be held Thursday and Friday, February 12-13, 2009, in Columbus.

Guests at the meeting included Ray Merrill, Robert Gray, Jr., Mike Siefken, Lawrence Sobota, Gayle Goering and Clay Gibbs with Cornhusker Public Power District; Jerry Palmer with Burt County Public Power District; Rod Zohner, Dennis Kuchar, Mark Miller, Greg Weidner, and Tom Rudloff with Elkhorn Rural Public Power District; Bruce Pontow of the Nebraska Electric G&T; and Adrian Sanchez with the Columbus Telegram.

The Board of Directors held its annual election of officers. Dennis Rasmussen of Lincoln was elected Board Chairman for 2009. Larry Linstrom of North Platte was elected First Vice-Chairman, Ron Larsen of Kearney, 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 Treasurer, Jan Modelski as Assistant Secretary and Sandy Keefover as Deputy Assistant Secretary.

A general discussion was held by the Board concerning the Interim 2009 Nebraska Energy Plan, currently under development by the Nebraska Energy Office.

The Board approved the following capital projects for Cooper Nuclear Station: cathodic protection upgrade project for $200,000; reactor feed pump turbine B overhaul for $5,500,000 to occur during the Fall 2009 Refueling and Maintenance Outage; and replacement of 11 local power range monitors for $1,210,000.

The following contracts and membership dues were approved:

• Contract for electronic dosimetry system, awarded to MGP Instruments for $702,183;
• Engineer’s certificate authorizing management to procure the design, materials, and installation services to replace or retrofit the CNS high pressure turbine with new higher efficient components, in an amount not to exceed $21,500,000, to be installed during the Fall 2012 or the Spring 2014 outage;
• Engineer’s certificate for control rod drive mechanism parts for an estimated amount of $515,894;
• Engineer’s certificate for control rod drive hydraulic control unit parts for an estimated amount of $1,944,026;
• Engineer’s certificate for maintenance and refueling outage valve maintenance and testing services for an estimated amount of $4,500,000 for the Fall 2009 and the Spring 2011 Refueling and Maintenance Outages;
• Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) membership dues for 2009 in the amount of $1,116,200;
• Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) membership fees for 2009 in the amount of $289,657;
• Contract for the purchase of apparel and stitching services from Valerie Duncan, owner of Countryside Stitches, in an amount not to exceed $8,500;
• Contract for the purchase of food service from Jana Anderson, owner of Wooden Spoon Catering, in an amount not to exceed $30,000;
• Contract for the purchase of services from Russell Blex, owner of Quality Lawn Services/Southside Storage for snow removal, lawn care and storage unit rental, in an amount not to exceed $22,500;
• Contract with Team One Technical Services for an estimated amount of $5,715,196 for scaffolding services for maintenance activities prior to, during, and after the Fall 2009 and Spring 2011 refueling outages; and
• An Amendment with Catalyst Midwest INC (Catalyst) for an estimated amount of $138,720 for maintenance services and licenses for software.

The Board approved the following capital projects for Energy Supply: warehouse building at the Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility for $1,514,584; 7.2 kilovolt (kV) switchgear breaker replacement at Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS) for $1,602,915; mobile inventory management pilot implementation software for the NPPD warehouse for $115,000; Unit 2 new forced draft bridge crane hoist at GGS for $268,598; and SAP xRPM implementation for $462,063.

The following contracts were approved for Energy Supply:

• Contract for the Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility warehouse building, awarded to Nelson Engineering Construction, Inc., for $791,630;
• Contract for conveyor belt for GGS, awarded to Apache Hose & Belting for $189,400;
• Agreement renewal for Honeywell software maintenance at GGS/Beatrice/Canaday power plants for $328,912 and
• Amendment with Univar USA, Inc., for an estimated amount of $605,000 for sulfuric acid at Sheldon Station; 

The revised surface irrigation water rates for 2009 and the revised Spencer Hydro water compensation rates for 2009 were deferred.

The Board accepted NPPD’s November 2008 financial statements. Traci Bender, vice president and chief financial officer, reported that the District ended November with a surplus of $4.9 million. The year-to-date surplus through November is $11.6 million.

The Board approved the following capital project for Finance, Rates and Procurement: a supplement to the work for the replacement of NPPD aircraft and hanger in Columbus for $250,000. The following Customer Services and Delivery capital projects were also approved as follows: transformer and substation upgrade at North Bend for $1,773,408; substation refurbishment at Neligh for $1,609,612; T9 transformer and substation upgrade at North Platte for $5,801,175; modify subtransmission lines, 69 kV operation at Geneva for $197,445; 12.5 kV distribution underbuild at York SW for $293,268; mobile circuit switcher trailer purchase at the York Operations Center for $150,171; and the purchase of SF6 gas trailer at York Operations Center for $219,981. 

The following items were also approved:

• A contract for the O’Neill substation construction and modification awarded in three parts. Part I awarded to Timberline Construction, Inc., for $261,680; Part II awarded to Timberline Construction, Inc., for $136,162; and Part III awarded to Watts Electric Company for $85,258;
• Amendment for 230/345 kV power circuit breakers with ABB, Inc., for $188,507;
• Agreement for outage management system/geospatial information system interface at Kearney, awarded to Advanced Control Systems (ACS) for $243,470; and
• An agreement for outage management system/geospatial information system interface at Kearney awarded to GE Energy Management Services for $165,720.

The Board recognized the retirements of Jerry L. Florer, Material Handler at Gerald Gentleman Station and William L. Jensen, Irrigation Technician at Cozad.