The following is a transcript of the June 1, 2026, episode of Public Power Now. Learn more about subscribing to Public Power Now at PublicPower.org/Podcasts. Some quotes may have been edited for clarity.
Paul Ciampoli
Welcome to the latest episode of Public Power Now.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, APPA's News Director. Our guest on this episode is Colin Hansen, CEO and General Manager of KPP Energy.
KPP Energy is a joint action agency based in Kansas that provides electricity and innovative power solutions to 24 Kansas communities.
Colin, thanks for joining us on the podcast.
Colin Hansen
Yeah. Thanks, Paul. It's my pleasure to visit with you on the podcast again.
I'm a big fan of the podcast and I always enjoy learning about the new and innovative things happening in the public power community through it. So happy to be here.
Paul Ciampoli
Sure thing, Colin. And thank you again for joining us.
So Colin, I'm sure that most of our listeners are aware of KPP Energy, but for those that may not be familiar with it, could you provide an overview of KPP Energy?
Colin Hansen
KPP Energy is a joint action agency. We're actually an all requirements municipal energy agency. We're formed under Kansas statutes.
And as an all requirements agency, we fulfill 100% of the electricity supply and the transmission needs to the 24 cities that are members of ours across the state of Kansas, and I think as joint action agencies go, we're still relatively young. Our agency was formed as the Kansas Power Pool -- KPP -- back in 2005 when a handful of our members pledged their resources to KPP, and then in return, KPP took on the obligation of fulfilling all of their power and transmission needs.
So we celebrated our 20th anniversary last year and are looking forward to the next 20.
We're governed by a nine-member board of directors, and I feel very lucky to have a very progressive and forward-looking board, and in fact, that board even approved the purchasing of a new office headquarters last year, so we're located in that new office here in Wichita, Kansas, which is near the epicenter of where most of our members are located.
We're a pretty lean and mean group. There's actually only 8 full-time employees currently. But, you know, obviously I'm pretty biased, but I think we're doing what I think are some pretty interesting and ambitious things for a small agency.
Paul Ciampoli
Great, Colin.
Well, thanks for that overview of KPP Energy. So just kind of diving into the nitty gritty in terms of what KPP Energy is up to these days.
It's been moving, as you know, to install new generation in member communities. So I wanted to give you the opportunity to tell me a little bit more about the direction the agency is heading.
Colin Hansen
Yeah, that's a great question. We actually have a lot happening in that space right now.
KPP relies heavily on member-owned and operated generation to meet our resource adequacy needs at the Southwest Power Pool or SPP and, in fact, over half of our accredited capacity is operated by our members.
So as we move into this brave new world with higher required reserve margins and performance-based accreditation, large data center loads, generation retirements and other challenges, we found ourselves with the need for both new capacity, but also making sure that we're taking good care of our existing capacity.
In fact, if you look at two of the three high-level objectives in our current 2024 to 2028 strategic plan, those two are -- number one, to evaluate and assist existing capacity, but also, number two, add new capacity.
Recently, KPP purchased four 3-megawatt CAT diesel peaking generators to add just a little more flexibility and reliability to our system.
After KPP purchased the build slots, we then actually issued an RFP to our members to see which of the 24 communities might most benefit from the siting of the engines there, and we had a really great response to the RFP, and we'll be siting them in areas where perhaps they're needed most for reliability in the cities of Mulvane, Ellenwood, and Greensburg, Kansas.
Last year, we implemented a new generator repair fund and this is a KPP program that provides an opportunity for our members to apply for some financial assistance from us in making necessary repairs to existing generation in their community.
And so half of the assistance comes in the form of a direct grant from KPP, while the remaining half of the funding can then be paid back by that member to KPP through their wholesale electric rate.
Last month, the KPP board approved a new capacity payment for performance-based accreditation.
We decided we'd create our very own new acronym, CPPBA, and this is a new capacity payment that's on top of the capacity payment they already received from KPP for the generation that they contribute.
And it will be closely tied to the new performance-based standards implemented at SPP, so it provides an additional incentive to member-generating cities to perhaps invest even more in their local power plants in the hope of maintaining or possibly increasing what capacity that KPP can claim towards meeting our SPP resource adequacy requirements.
And the final thing I think I might mention is that several years back, we formed a generation task force, and it's largely made up of power plant superintendents from 11 of our 24 members that operate generation.
They've been just an absolutely great resource in making sure that KPP is providing the assistance, whether that's financial or engineering or otherwise, to keep their power plants operating reliably.
So, those are just a few of the things that we're doing to both add capacity and be good stewards of our existing generation.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks, Colin. With respect to the Generator Repair Fund, any sense as to how unique that is in terms of the world of joint action agencies?
Colin Hansen
Yeah, you know, I have not heard of others implementing something similar to that.
Certainly, when we moved to create it, we were kind of starting from scratch. But yeah, I'm not aware of other joint action agencies utilizing it.
So far we've had two of our members utilize it for some pretty significant repairs and have a third one queued up, ready to go.
Paul Ciampoli
Okay, thanks. And you also mentioned large data center load.
Obviously, that's top of mind across the country, whether you're public power, investor-owned, or a cooperative.
So, any sense in terms of the region, the footprint of KPP Energy -- level of proposals or how proactive Kansas public power utilities are looking to kind of proactively address this?
Colin Hansen
We are working on a large load policy right now. Certainly, some of the data center folks are out there knocking on the doors, particularly of our largest members.
We're not long capacity currently, so we're not in a position to entertain -- certainly not of the hyperscaler size -- but are in some ongoing conversation with some computational load, large load that would be more within the size that might work for KPP.
Paul Ciampoli
Just switching gears here, KPP Energy has been awarded funding from the Rural Utilities Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Powering Affordable Clean Energy Program for the development of 18 megawatts of solar arrays in 7 rural communities across Kansas.
Could you provide additional details on how KPP Energy is working with its member communities to develop the solar arrays?
Colin Hansen
Yeah, certainly. That's been a really fun and challenging project for us here.
KPP was one of only a handful of public power entities that were able to receive funding from the USDA's Powering Affordable Clean Energy or PACE program.
And what it is allowing us to do is install 18 megawatts of solar arrays in seven of our 24 member communities. And so the installations vary in size from six megawatts in Winfield, Kansas, our largest member, down to four 1-megawatt arrays in some of our smaller member communities, like Hillsborough and Marion, Kansas. We also have a five-megawatt array in Wellington, and a 3-megawatt array in Clay Center.
And one of the cool things about this program is we're using land that was owned by the city, and It's generally land that's not desirable from an economic development perspective.
Arrays will be going next to wastewater treatment plants, a water treatment plant, a runway, and even a shooting range in in one community. So we're using somewhat undesirable land for a desirable result.
The neat thing is, under the PACE program, once it's operational, the projects are eligible for a low-interest loan from the USDA with 20% loan forgiveness just right off the top, and then the projects are also eligible for additional elective pay tax credits, so stackable tax credits, if you will, that will further reduce the cost of the overall project.
And then, you know, one additional kind of neat part of it is KPP applied for and was successful in securing the go-ahead on a qualified low-income economic benefit program in six of the seven communities where the solar arrays will be going.
Once completed, this should provide yet another additional bonus credit. And once those bonus credits are allocated, KPP will then provide half of that credit to qualified low and moderate income households in those six member communities.
So all in all, it should be a very affordable, sustainable new resource for our entire membership.
You know, as I like to constantly repeat to our members, our focus remains first and foremost on affordability and reliability.
Paul Ciampoli
KPP Energy provides a wide range of services to its member communities, including, among other things, distribution system assessments and training opportunities.
So Colin, I wanted to give you the opportunity to provide additional details on these and other services that KPP Energy offers to member communities.
Colin Hansen
One of my goals since joining KPP a little over four years ago was, you know, I really wanted our team to be viewed as an extension of the staff of our 24 member communities.
I've spent my entire career working for public power, and my passion throughout my career has been to find ways to support and assist our members, and particularly our small members to help their communities thrive. And that phrase is actually in our vision statement for KPP, to help our communities thrive.
And so while we are a small team here, we're made up of engineers, accountants, we've got two team members that operated public power systems for decades, we've got a former city clerk, an IT professional. Excellent legal counsel. We really couldn't be prouder of the team that we've got here.
In fact, we calculated last year that between the eight of us, we have over 180 years of municipal and public power experience. And so we want to make that available to our members.
So as you mentioned, we provide a lot of assistance in the form of distribution assessments. We help with project management. We provide engineering assistance, accounting and budgeting help, help with grant applications and even setting parallel generation policies and quite a bit more.
One area that we've really worked to build out over the past two years is on the rate side and recognizing that the long-term success of our member utilities begin with proper rate structures.
We significantly expanded our focus on providing several new services, including utility rate reviews. We do rate design. We do financial reviews and reports and even have gotten into doing limited cost of service studies just as a benefit for being a member of KPP.
And actually, this would be a good time to put in a plug for the great training that APPA provides.
Just last month, two of our KPP team members participated in the APPA Spring Educational Institute, and they were able to add to their expertise on strategic rate design, on utility financial planning, and even on the cost of service studies that I mentioned earlier.
So just over the last several months, we've completed one comprehensive rate review and rate design. We've got two special rate designs that we assisted with, and we have three additional member rate reviews that are currently in progress.
In addition to that, we also assist members with developing specialized rate structures for large or unique customers whose size or their usage characteristics or demand requirements tend to fall outside of standard rate structures, and along that line of thinking, as I mentioned earlier, we're working up a new large load computational load policy and guidance that we've got in the works right now as well.
Paul Ciampoli
So, Colin, one of the things that jumped out at me as I was preparing for this interview is, and I think is really neat in terms of what you guys are doing these days, is you recently launched a first-ever video series, and in the first installment of the series, KPP Energy shares how it serves communities across the entire pool.
So could you elaborate on why KPP Energy decided to launch the video series?
Colin Hansen
Yeah, at the end of the day, KPP really is just about the communities that we serve, and we think that they have some really great and compelling stories to tell.
And so, because of that, we thought that initiating a video series where we highlight these members would be a great way to illustrate the interesting things that are happening in their communities and we also wanted something that the members themselves could use locally to show off their towns whether it's at a local community event, a rotary meeting, or what have you, or on their social media channels.
And so, our first video featured Clay Center Public Utilities in Clay Center, Kansas, in the northwest part of the state.
They are an extremely well-run municipal utility. And, you know, as just as a sidebar, one of the interesting tidbits about Clay Center Public Utilities is, in addition to operating an electric utility and a significant amount of generation, the electric utility actually also operates a municipal zoo. So they've got a zoo in Clay Center run by public power as well. So that, I think, shows the diversity and the interesting aspects of public power communities.
Our second video is currently being filmed in the small town of Lucas, Kansas. It's an artist community. It's considered the grassroots art capital of Kansas. And so, again, shows that we've got some really interesting public power systems with great stories to tell.
And so the focus is on the community. The focus of the video is on the community with a modest KPP angle. And our hope is that over time, we'll have short videos that feature all of our great member communities.
And then, as you mentioned in the question, we do have an additional video that does explain KPP, who we are and what we do. And again, I think it just gets back to trying to communicate what we think is a great story to tell about public power.
Paul Ciampoli
And so, obviously, there's a fair amount of work that's put into the production and preparation for these videos, but it strikes me, and I'd love your thoughts on this, that the cost-benefit ratio in terms of the amount of work and time that goes into this is outweighed in terms of kind of the long-term benefits in terms of a variety of reasons, right?
Colin Hansen
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, the cost really is fairly minimal. We use a company that is largely located out of one of our smaller communities. And, by picking off one or two or three members each year.
Instead of trying to go out and film 24 videos all in one year -- it's become something that's very manageable for us financially and organizationally.
Paul Ciampoli
Okay, great. Well, Colin, thanks again so much for taking time to speak with us and would love to have you back as a guest at some point in the future.
Colin Hansen
My pleasure, Paul. Enjoyed the conversation.
Paul Ciampoli
Thanks for listening to this episode of Public Power Now, which is produced by Julio Guerrero, graphic and digital designer at APPA.
I'm Paul Ciampoli, and we'll be back with more from the world of public power next week.
