The Nebraska Public Power District held its May 14-15, 2009, Board of Directors’ meeting in Columbus, Neb. The next Board of Directors’ meeting will be Thursday and Friday, June 11-12, 2009, in Columbus.

Guests at the meeting included Bruce Pontow of the Nebraska Electric G&T; Adrian Sanchez of the Columbus Telegram; NPPD employees Erma Nolan and Bill McBride, and Nancy McBride.

The Board approved a nuclear capital project to upgrade fiber-optics communications from Auburn to Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) for $380,000.

The Board also awarded the following contracts or approved the following engineer’s certificates for Cooper Nuclear Station:

• a contract for a reactor shield block hook box, awarded to Preferred Engineering for $298,000; 
• a task authorization with Michael L. Sparr, doing business as Rocky Mountain Engineering, Inc., for staff augmentation services at a cost of $138,000;
• two task authorization amendments with Michael L. Sparr, doing business as Rocky Mountain Engineering, Inc. for continued use of a senior electrical engineer with extensive boiling water reactor engineering experience at a cost of $171,500 and continued use of an operations specialist at the plant for an estimated amount of $135,000.
• an agreement with Main Line Engineering Associates, Inc., for engineering design services associated with an alternate decay heat removal system at an estimated amount of $499,750; 

The Board approved an Energy Supply capital project to replace a bridge west of the Lake Maloney inlet on the outlet canal system for $229,641.

The Board also approved the following items for Energy Supply:

• a contract with Square D company for the replacement of eight (8), 7.2-kilovolt (kV) switchgear air breakers with vacuum circuit breakers at Gerald Gentleman Station (GGS) at a price of $264,000;
• a contract with Energy Maintenance Services, LLC, for a spare gearbox at the Ainsworth Wind Energy Facility for $334,042;
• an engineer’s certificate with Honeywell Process Solutions for a distributed control system replacement at GGS’s Unit 1 for an estimated cost of $2,410,000;
• the sale of 40.47 acres of land near Korty Canal in Keith County to Wm. J. Finch Farms for $80,000;
• an agreement with Associated Fire Protection for an amount not to exceed $389,511, for fire protection and inspection services for GGS, Sheldon Station, Beatrice Power Station, and the Hallam, Hebron, and McCook gas turbine peaker stations for a three-year period;
• an agreement with SimGenics Corporation for simulator maintenance and upgrade services through 2012 at GGS, Sheldon Station, and Canaday Station at an estimated amount of $518,400;
• an amendment to an agreement for engineering services provided by Sargent & Lundy, LLC for the multi-pollutant control equipment project at GGS at an estimated amount of $3,790,000.

The Board also approved a recommendation to use funding from the Domestic Energy Research and Application Initiative to upgrade the solar voltaic demonstration project expansion at the Norfolk Operations Center for $240,500. The solar unit’s size would increase from 7.9 kilowatts to 44.1 kilowatts and take advantage of an automatic tracking system.

The Board accepted NPPD’s March financial statements. Traci Bender, vice president and chief financial officer, reported that the District ended March with a deficit of $1.8 million. The year-to-date surplus through the end of March is $3.5 million.

The Board approved the revised NPPD Energy Risk Management Policy.

The following capital projects for Customer Services and Delivery were approved:

• the purchase of 11 acres in South Sioux City for $185,136 for the construction of a 115/69-kV substation;
• the installation of service lines, transformer, and related equipment to support the Cash-Wa expansion in Kearney at a cost of $113,268;
• a line extension project to support the Village of Sutherland’s new well field for $124,649;
• replacement of 15, 115-kilovolt line pole structures between Columbus and Genoa for $225,000;
• removal of the overhead distribution lines and addition of new, primary underground extensions to support the AGRI Co-op Elevator expansion in Alma for $102,502; and
• a circuit breaker replacement at the Oakland substation for $99,400.

The Board also approved the following contracts for Customer and Support Services:

• a contract with Areva T&D, Inc., for 63 power circuit breakers in the amount of $3,296,289;
• a contract with General Cable Corporation at a price of $663,312 for transmission line conductor;
• a contract with Asplundh Tree Expert Co. at a cost of $329,419 for transmission line right-of-way tree clearing and vegetation control;
• a contract for 33,908 electric meters to support NPPD’s automated meter communications system in 17 retail communities awarded as Parts I, II, III, IV, V and VII to Kriz-Davis Co. for a total of $3,328,784; and Part VI awarded to Graybar Electric Company, Inc., for $692,258;
• a contract with Stella-Jones Corporation for 250 transmission wood poles at a cost of $525,260; and
• a contract with The L.E. Myers Co. for the construction of a 115-kV switching station near Steele City at a cost of $311,457.

The Board recognized retirements for the following employees: Chad E. Eggebraaten, Unit Operator at Sheldon Station; Perry K. Adelung, Engineer at Cooper Nuclear Station; Duane A. Shallenberger, Nuclear Instructor at Cooper Nuclear Station; William D. McBride, Engineer at Gerald Gentleman Station; Timothy S. Slenker, Assistant Operations Manager at Cooper Nuclear Station; and Erma J. Nolan, Wholesale Billing Specialist at the Columbus General Office.