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Nebraska Public Power District president and CEO Pat Pope said the utility built wind farms “due to political pressure”, but when the wind did not blow there was no wind power.
Pope reportedly said that coal-fired plants were the state’s highest power source, and while he saw a shift to natural gas, “we have to temper that,” because coal plants cannot easily or affordably be converted to other sources of power.
The bulk of Nebraska’s power is supplied by the Gerald Gentleman power plant near Sutherland, which comprises two coal-fired generating units with a combined 1365 megawatts capacity.
NPPD says Gerald Gentleman station has been recognized by Platts Powermagazine as the lowest cost coal-fired producer in America.
It says the plant can burn as much as 800 tons of coal per hour, sourced from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin.
