OPPD moves forward with $340M Cass Co. power plant project

 3 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By the Lincoln Journal Star

The Omaha Public Power District is proceeding with plans to expand its Cass County Station power plant southwest of Plattsmouth.

A board committee decided Tuesday to sign a contract with HDR, an Omaha-based company, to study the project and provide engineering services as the project moves forward, OPPD spokesman Jeff Hanson said.

Cass County Station, dedicated in 2003, consists of two natural gas turbine units. The facility is about 2 miles south and 4 miles west of the Plattsmouth city limits on Mill Road.

OPPD wants to add 210 megawatts of generation capacity to the 320-megawatt plant by converting it into a combined-cycle operation, Hanson said. A combined-cycle plant is more efficient because it uses the hot exhaust gases generated by the jet-like turbines to generate more power.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $340 million.

Hanson said OPPD anticipates that it will need the additional power by 2010. He said the Cass County Station plant will be operated about 40 percent of the time and should be completed by the  spring of 2014.