The Superior Express -

When the natural gas pipeline reached Superior in the 1920s, the natural gas supplier offered large users a better rate if they would agree to an interruptible contract.

Potentially large users like the cement plant and creameries could buy gas for less if they agreed to use other energy sources when supplies were tight.

For the cement plant, the alternative energy supply was coal. Before the plant closed, the cement company had teamed with Hastings Utilities to buy coal by the unit train.

Before it closed, Mid-America Dairymen was using propane as the alternative power source. At times the plant used more than a semi-truck load of propane per day.

Some Superior school buildings relied on fuel oil as an alternative heat source.

Until now, we didn’t need to worry about not having enough electrical energy to run our heating systems during the winter months. For residents of Nebraska and Kansas, the peak energy use was caused by the refrigeration load during summer months. Incentives were offered to encourage increased winter consumption and thus balance the demand for power.

In recent years, power companies in both Nebraska and Kansas joined what is known as the Southwest Power Pool. Those companies didn’t have a lot of choice as a federal government mandate required them to join a regional power agency which allowed power to be shared among the states.

That sharing is at least partially responsible for the current problem.

This week’s record breaking cold wave reduced generation capacity while increasing the demand for electricity. As a result the demand for electricity exceeded the supply.

The first calls to conserve power were sent out Sunday. At that time the Nebraska Public Power District asked consumers of electricity to reduce energy usage as much as possible beginning immediately and running for 48 hours past midnight Monday. The request sent to both wholesale and retail customers to conserve energy use was said to be caused by current and future low temperatures that are affecting the state and Midwestern portion of the country.

Customers were asked to reduce any electrical usage to mitigate the risk of potential widespread and longer-lasting outages. The effects of widespread and extreme cold weather had led to increasingly tightening conditions in Southwest Power Pool’s (SPP) service territory of which NPPD is a member.

On Sunday NPPD was currently operating all available generating resources to meet demand.

Electric consumers were advised to do the following to assist without putting safety at risk:

• Turn down thermostats to 68 degrees and lower at night.

• Close shades and blinds to reduce the amount of heat lost through windows.

• Turn off and unplug nonessential lights and appliances, computers and printers.

• Close the fireplace damper when not in use to avoid losing heat through the chimney.

• Avoid using large appliances (i.e., ovens, washing machines, etc.).

• Businesses were asked to minimize the use of electric lighting and electricity-consuming equipment as much as possible.

This was said to be a Level 1 emergency. By 7 a.m. the power company increased the emergency rating to a Level 2. At 10 a.m., it was advanced to a Level 3, which allowed the use of rolling blackouts to reduce power demand. The first of those blackouts reached Superior about noon Monday and turned the power off for about an hour.

Similar appeals were issued in Kansas and by midday Monday rolling blackouts were spreading across Kansas.

So what is the Southwest Power Pool (SPP)?

The power pool’s web site describes it as a regional transmission organization (RTO): a nonprofit corporation mandated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to ensure supplies of power, adequate transmission infrastructure and competitive wholesale electricity prices on behalf of its members.

The SPP was founded in 1941 when 11 regional power companies pooled their resources to keep Arkansas’ Jones Mill, an aluminum producer, powered around the clock in support of critical, national defense needs.

Today, SPP oversees the bulk electric grid and wholesale power market in the central United States on behalf of utilities and transmission companies in 17 states. This is a 552,000-square-mile region, including more than 60,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines in the Eastern Interconnection. The agency serves nearly 19 million people

In 1968, SPP joined 12 other entities to form what became the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). SPP incorporated as an Arkansas nonprofit organization in 1994. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved SPP as a Regional Transmission Organization in 2004.

SPP expanded its RTO operations in 2015 to serve all or parts of 14 states. In 2019, it expanded its service territory to encompass parts of 17 states. The company is based in Little Rock, Arkansas, and has about 600 employees.

SPP is one of nine independent system operators (ISO) and RTOs in North America.

ISOs and RTOs are the “air-traffic controllers” of the electric power grid. While the SPP does not own the power grid, it operates the grid, parts of which are owned by the member companies.

SPP has members in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.

SPP also provides coordination services in Arizona, Colorado and Utah. The organization is responsible for 5,054 substations, 818 generation plants, 68,272 miles of transmission lines, In 2019 the peak summer load was 50,662 MW. Until now the peak winter load of 43,584 MW came on Jan. 17, 2018. On Jan. 10, 2020, the generating capacity was said to be 90,466 megawatts. The power source for this capacity was 40.9 percent natural gas, 26 percent coal, 24.9 percent wind, 3.8 percent hydro, 2.3 percent nuclear 1.7 percent fuel oil and 0.2 percent solar. On Tuesday morning wind generators were supplying about 10 percent of the power.

This week, snow covered some of the solar panels, the cold temperatures reduced available wind power and the natural gas supply was limited by heating demand.

The actual energy production prior to this week by fuel type was 34.8 percent coal, 27.4 percent wind, 25.9 percent natural gas, 6 percent nuclear, 5.6 percent hydro and 0.2 percent solar.

Spurred by environmental concerns, the power industry has been shutting down coal and nuclear plants. Nebraska’s Fort Calhoun plant is among the nuclear plants that have been closed. Because of environmental concerns, it has been several years since approval has been given for the construction of coal and nuclear power plants.

Within the power industry, companies with excess power available often sell that power to companies who are short.

While we haven’t been able to confirm this week’s price spike, a story circulating in Superior on Monday said that prior to this cold snap excess power in Nebraska was selling at about $25 a megawatt. At 8 a.m. Monday buyers were offering $3,200 a megawatt. By noon the offering price had risen to $46,500.

We find those numbers unbelievable. But if they are, correct, we understand why generators would seek to maximize the amount of power they had available for sale. Generation and distribution problems are likely responsible for some of the price increase. Because of the cold, wind generators in Texas are shut down.

The cold snap has also spiked the wholesale price of natural gas. Not only are consumers using more gas the distributors may have to raise retail prices to cover the increases in the wholesale natural gas prices.

Area residents received good news about 12:30 Tuesday afternoon when it was learned the Southwest Power Pool had downgraded the energy emergency alert (EEA) to a Level 1. The power pool began downgrading the alert at 11:30 when it moved from Level 3 to Level 2.

But area residents were not out of the woods. SPP’s forecasts anticipated that because of high load and persistent cold weather, it was likely the system would fluctuate between levels until the weather moderated.

Because of the cold, snow and power shortage, a number of area businesses have been either closed or operating with reduced hours this week. The Nuckolls County Courthouse was open Tuesday morning but closed Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday. It was also closed Monday in observance of a national holiday.