SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) - Officials in northeastern Nebraska’s South Sioux City expect a proposed five-megawatt natural gas power plant to be operating as early as the end of next year.
The project would be the latest of several recent moves by the city to diversify its public energy portfolio and keep electricity rates low, the Sioux City Journal reported (https://bit.ly/2sC6WJl ) Saturday.
The city plans to place the single-story, 50-by-80-foot structure in its Roth Industrial Park. Once completed, the plant would use natural gas purchased from MidAmerican Energy or Northern Natural Gas pipelines to generate electricity, City Administrator Lance Hedquist said.
The plant will include up to three generators and give the city the option to expand by 2.5-megawatt increments.
“That’s really primarily dependent on our industrial growth,” Hedquist said.
The City Council will vote Monday on two items related to the project: an agreement for soil testing at the proposed site and an ad for bids on the proposed $5 million natural gas plant.
In recent years, South Sioux City’s municipal electric utility has taken several steps to diversify its portfolio, adopt more renewable forms of energy and lessen its dependence on the Nebraska Public Power District, the state’s largest electrical utility.
In May, the city approved an agreement with Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources that could bring 15 megawatts - the equivalent of 33 percent of the city’s power needs - via the Cottonwood Wind Farm, a project currently under construction in Webster County.
“One of our goals has been to be the greenest city in the state of Nebraska,” Mayor Rod Koch said.
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Information from: Sioux City Journal, https://www.siouxcityjournal.com
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