NPPD Reports Strong Response To Renewable Energy Request For Proposals

There has been a strong response to a request for proposal (RFP) to provide nearly two million megawatt hours (MWh) of renewable energy by Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) to support Monolith Materials for its green hydrogen and carbon black operations in Hallam, Neb., NPPD reported on July 9.

The RFP, which was issued earlier this year, resulted in bids for wind, solar, and energy storage projects. 

In order to facilitate Monolith Materials’ proposed $1 billion expansion of its Olive Creek facility, NPPD and Monolith signed a letter of intent outlining the companies’ intentions to procure enough renewable energy resources to generate two million MWh annually.

The Columbus, Neb.-based utility noted that it is developing a short list of proposals from the bids received. Projects could be located physically within the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) footprint with preference to those projects located within Nebraska.

SPP is a regional transmission organization that oversees the bulk electric grid and wholesale power market in the central United States on behalf of a group of utilities and transmission companies in 17 states.

“The approximately two million megawatt-hours of generation would create a sufficient number of renewable energy certificates to meet 100 percent of Monolith’s average annual energy usage and meet their environmental and sustainability goals,” said NPPD President and CEO Tom Kent. “While we are adding additional generation resources, NPPD will continue to maintain our highly competitive rates, which was one of the reasons Monolith moved its operations to Nebraska.  We are very interested in pursuing locations where the local community welcomes these types of investments in wind and solar projects,” he said in a statement.

That short list is expected to be completed later this summer with successful respondents being notified this fall, followed by contract negotiations and eventual board approval. Kent indicated that expectations are that all operations would be in place by Dec. 31, 2025.

A total of 28 different companies provided responses for a mix of wind, solar, storage and clean energy products. This included 21 wind projects totaling nearly 4,000 megawatts, 33 projects for solar amounting to approximately 5,800 megawatts, and electric storage projects amounting to 2,200 megawatts.

The majority of proposals provided locations within Nebraska.