NEBRASKA POWER REVIEW BOARD
Minutes of the 856th Meeting
September 20, 2024
The 856th meeting of the Nebraska Power Review Board (Board or PRB) was held in the First Floor Hearing Room, Nebraska State Office Building, 301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, Nebraska. The roll was called and present were Chairman Hutchison, Mr. Austin, and Mr. Liegl. Mr. Moen had informed the Board he would not be able to attend this meeting due to a work conflict. Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk had contacted the Board’s staff to let everyone know she was running about ten minutes late. Executive Director Texel stated that public notice for the meeting had been published in the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper on September 10, 2024. The Board made the meeting available to the public through Webex. The Webex login information was available on the Board’s website and was published in the Lincoln Journal Star notice. The agenda on the Board’s website provided links to the agenda items with associated documents the Board will consider, as well as a link to the Nebraska Open Meetings Act. Executive Director Texel explained that if any member of the public watching the meeting on Webex wanted to speak, they can click on the “raise your hand” icon. At that time they would be unmuted, they could announce who is speaking, provide an address, and disclose if they represent an organization. Anyone wishing to comment on an item or ask a question could also type the comment or question in the “chat” function and the Board’s staff would read the question. All background materials for the agenda items to be acted on were provided to all Board members prior to the meeting and a copy of the materials was in each Board member’s meeting notebook. The executive director announced that a copy of the Nebraska Open Meetings Act was on display on the south wall of the room, and another copy was available in a black three-ring binder on the table in the back of the room. A copy of all materials that the Board would consider was available for public inspection on a file cabinet on the south wall near the back of the room, as well as extra copies of the agenda.
The Board first considered the draft minutes from its August 16, 2024, public meeting. The minutes had been sent electronically to the Board members. Mr. Austin commented that on the first page, second paragraph, where the motion and vote is described it states that there was an abstention. Executive Director Texel agreed that was not correct, as the vote was 4 to 0 with one absent. Mr. Austin moved to approve the draft minutes with the correction to the language in the vote on page 1. Mr. Liegl seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – absent, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Liegl – yes, and Mr. Moen – absent. The motion carried 3-0 with two absent.
The next agenda item was acceptance of the expense report for the month of August. In August there was $30,025.50 in personal services, $24,186.27 in operating expenses, and $75.71 in travel expenses. The total August expenses were $54,287.48. Executive Director Texel explained that the Board is two months into the new fiscal year. Last month the numbers did not reflect accurate percentages because the assessments had not all been collected yet, so the cash fund was not yet fully funded. In August the Board used 16.81% of the agency’s cash fund and 16.67% of the fiscal has gone by. Mr. Liegl moved to accept the August expense report. Mr. Austin seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – absent, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Liegl – yes, and Mr. Moen – absent. The motion carried 3-0 with two absent.
Chairman Hutchison suggested the next agenda item, the presentation of the annual Load and Capability Report, be tabled until Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk arrived. The Board could instead move on to consideration of SAA 253-24-A. Mr. Austin and Mr. Liegl agreed.
Executive Director Texel stated that SAA 253-24-A is a service area agreement amendment filed by the City of South Sioux City. It is based on an annexation. The application was submitted on August 27, 2024. The annexation occurred in September 2023. The Nebraska Public Power District currently holds the service area rights to the annexed territory. The two parties have agreed on the amendment, but they are still working on getting the map signed and the wording in the application modified. Since the City was coming up on its one-year deadline in which to file an application to ensure it has the right to take over the annexed territory, the City filed the application unilaterally to preserve its rights. Both utilities had been contacted that morning and confirmed there is no dispute about the transfer, but they agreed the application should be tabled until the PRB’s October meeting so the application could be modified to be joint, the details can be finalized, and the necessary signatures obtained. During this discussion Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk arrived at 10:10 a.m. Mr. Austin moved to table SAA 253-24-A. Mr. Liegl seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Liegl – absent, and Mr. Moen – absent. The motion carried 4-0 with one absent.
The next item on the agenda was acceptance of the 2024 Annual Load and Capability Report. The executive director stated that many years ago the Board designated the Nebraska Power Association (NPA) as the representative organization to prepare this report, pursuant to Neb. Rev. Stat. § 70-1024. The NPA presented the report at the Board’s August 16 meeting. After the Board expressed some concerns about information in the report, the NPA said it would withdraw the report and provide additional information in the report to address the Board’s concerns. Jason Fortik, Vice President for Power Supply for the Lincoln Electric System and chair of the NPA’s Joint Planning Subcommittee, discussed the changes made to the original version of the report. Chairman Hutchison spoke about his concerns with the utilities’ ability to meet the demand of generation needs and the ability to get new units online by 2027. Chairman Hutchison stated that there should be additional information in the report that captures how the utility addresses the situation when vendors and companies with new loads have to wait to come online until new generation is available to serve the increased loads. He was not sure if the Board should accept this report, request additional information, or accept the report and express the Board’s concerns in a transmittal letter. Mr. Liegl stated that he was not an engineer, but he shared the same concerns expressed by the chairman about the report. Mr. Austin stated that as he reads the statute pertaining to the report, the NPA is required to prepare the report and then file it with the PRB. The statute does not state that the Board takes action to approve it. There was discussion among the Board members about whether the Board could produce the report by using a contractor, and how such an expense would be covered. Under state law (§ 70-1024) the Board can hire a consultant to prepare the coordinated long range power supply plan if the Board determines that the designated representative organization cannot produce the plan in a timely manner, or if the plan is deficient. The statute allows the Board to levy a special assessment to pay for consultants to prepare the coordinated long-range power supply plan. However, the statute does not have language that allows a special assessment for preparation of the annual Load and Capability Report. Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk stated that the people preparing the Load and Capability Report are professional and very knowledgeable, but having an outside third party review such work can be helpful. Mr. Austin thought that the PRB should accept the report and send a transmittal letter explaining its concerns. Mr. Liegl moved to accept the 2024 Load and Capability Report and have a committee of Chairman Hutchison and Mr. Austin draft a cover letter explaining the Board’s concerns about the report. Mr. Austin seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin –yes, Mr. Liegl– yes, and Mr. Moen – absent. The motion carried 4 – 0 with one absent.
The next agenda item was the executive director’s report. The first item is the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) update. The Board had a copy of JK Energy’s monthly activities report. Chairman Hutchison stated that a winter planning reserve margin (PRM) of 36% for winter and 16% for the summer was passed by the SPP Board of Directors. He talked about the issues of implementing the PRM. The next meeting for SPP is at the end of October.
Executive Director Texel stated that he is still working with the U.S. Army Reserve Colonel assigned to work with him to obtain a definitive list of the Nebraska military facilities that are included under the definition of “military installation” in section 70-1001.01 and the location of the missile silos in western Nebraska. He is hoping that the military can provide either the locations of the applicable military installations or a map showing what areas in Nebraska are within ten miles of such installations. This will help greatly when determining which utilities have to provide the necessary certifications and which ones do not need to deal with it at all.
The executive director told the Board he submitted a letter to the Attorney General’s office requesting a legal opinion concerning the definition of the term “construction” as used in the statute requiring the notices and certifications for electric infrastructure built or installed within ten miles of the applicable military installations. This was delivered to the Attorney General’s office on August 23. Several Board members asked when an answer might be expected. The executive director said he was told it may take at least 90 days. However, the assistant attorney general assigned to the PRB will be retiring before the end of the year, so assuming the opinion was assigned to him, it seems highly likely the opinion will be completed before his retirement.
The PRB’s biennial budget was submitted to the Governor’s Budget Office electronically on Friday, September 13. All agency budgets were due by Sunday, September 15. The main two changes were in staff salaries and health care costs. Both increases were required as part of the budget instructions, and the amount of increase was set by the instructions. The overall budget request increased by only .26% in fiscal year 2025-2026, and by an even 1% in fiscal year 2026-2027.
The executive director then updated the Board on its intervention in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) docket EL24-110-000. This is the petition for declaratory order filed by the Southwest Power Pool requesting FERC’s direction how to proceed in a dispute between the Eolian company and the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) over whether OPPD is required to sign a generator interconnection agreement (GIA) with Eolian for several battery storage facilities Eolian wants to build in OPPD’s retail service area. Eolian and OPPD said they have largely worked out an agreement, but filed two motions asking for additional time to work out some details. Once FERC approves the interconnection agreements, SPP will request to dismiss the Petition for Declaratory Order and Eolian will need to file an application for approval of the facilities with the PRB. The PRB will then need to address the issue of whether energy storage resources built or installed by private entities are allowed under Nebraska law. Eolian will have until December 15 in which to file its application with the PRB, unless FERC has not issued its decision on the GIAs by that date.
Chairman Hutchison had previously asked the executive director if all PRB orders were available on the Board’s website, and if the orders were searchable. The executive director told the Board the documents are in pdf form and are searchable. Right now the website only includes the orders that were contentious or set a precedent. Sara Birkett, the Board’s paralegal, is loading all the Board’s orders onto the website. Only the applications that involved a hearing will be listed. That will avoid a great many minor applications that were uncontested and involved only small projects. The plan is to create a separate category for generation, transmission, service area amendment amendments, formal complaints, and microwave facilities. As with the orders, the minutes of the PRB’s past meetings are also searchable. All minutes beginning with December 2017 are already available on the website.
Executive Director Texel stated that the next three PRB meetings are scheduled for October 18, November 15, and December 20, 2024. The Board has again scheduled its 2025 public meetings for the third Friday of each month.
The executive director announced that the Board would now recess its meeting at this location and reconvene its public meeting at Lincoln Electric System’s Kevin Wailes Administrative Headquarters Building located at 9445 Rokeby Road, Lincoln Nebraska. LES will give a presentation on changes to SPP’s resource adequacy regulations, and then allow for a hands-on workshop showing how SPP generation resource modeling works. Webex will not be available for this portion of the meeting, but anyone is welcome to attend. The meeting was recessed at 11:18 a.m.
The meeting reconvened at LES’s headquarters at 11:55 a.m. All four board members that were present prior to the recess were again present.
A presentation was given by Scott Benson, LES Manager for Resource and Transmission Planning. The presentation covered the recent changes to SPP’s regulations and policies concerning planning reserve margins PRM. Items covered included effective load carrying capability, base PRM, accredited capacity PRM, the 16% summer PRM, the 36% winter PRM, fuel assurance standards and how to address demand response programs. The workshop allowed board members to create hypothetical utility generation portfolios in a computer modeling program to see how the portfolio would perform under SPP’s new accreditation standards in both summer and winter. The Board members thanked Mr. Benson for his presentation and the workshop.
Mr. Austin moved to adjourn the meeting. Mr. Liegl seconded the motion. Voting on the motion: Chairman Hutchison – yes, Vice Chairwoman Gottschalk – yes, Mr. Austin – yes, Mr. Liegl – yes, and Mr. Moen – absent. The motion carried 4 –0 with one absent. The meeting was adjourned at 1:53 p.m.
Timothy J. Texel
Executive Director and General Counsel
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