Research and Economic Development, Office of

 

Date of this Version

2009

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Published in: Sustainability in a Time of Climate Change: Developing an Intensive Research Framework for the Platte River Basin and the High Plains. Proceedings from the 2008 Climate Change Workshop, May 19-22. Hosted by the University of Nebraska–Lincoln & U.S. Geological Survey. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska.

Abstract

Climate change – a real interesting area for the electric utility industry. We’re kind of at a crossroads right now of how we go forward in the future with a new issue that appeared on our radar scope only four or five years ago. Climate change is getting much, much discussion in our industry, across the entire country, and we’re watching very closely what Congress is doing in that regard. Our understanding is that Congress is going to debate the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill in the next few weeks, and you can be assured that the electric industry is very, very interested in where that debate goes. A little background on NPPD. Some of you may not know us very well since a lot of you are here from Lincoln, affiliated with the university and are served by Lincoln Electric System. First of all, Nebraska is an all-public-power state. There are no investor-owned utilities in this state, at least on the electric side of the business. All of the customers we serve are our owners, so that’s who we answer to. We don’t have shareholders or stockholders, if you will, like the investor-owned utilities. NPPD has about $800 million in revenue on an annual basis and 2,200 employees, and we are capable of generating 3,000 megawatts. I’ll talk a little bit in just a moment about the types of generation we have.

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