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OPPD’s Environmental Stewardship, Stakeholder Outreach Efforts Highlighted in Reports to Board

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During recent committee meetings for the Omaha Public Power District Board of Directors, OPPD Vice President Cliff Fleener shared an update on the district’s progress in the area of environmental stewardship.

In discussing Strategic Directive (SD) 7: Environmental Stewardship monitoring report, Fleener talked about the establishment of seven Green Teams, with one more in the works. These teams are composed of employees at various district locations who collaborate to identify ways to improve sustainability, such as reducing water and electricity usage and recycling.

The utility has a broader goal of diverting 40% of waste from landfills by 2030. OPPD continues to work toward a greener vehicle fleet as well, aiming to reduce mobile vehicle emissions by 40% by 2040.

OPPD remains committed to net-zero carbon by 2050. From 2013 to 2023, OPPD realized a 40.6% carbon emission reduction. Fleener reiterated OPPD’s plan to retire three older gas units at North Omaha Station and transition the remaining two coal units to gas in 2027 that will generate an additional 3.5-million-ton reduction in Co2e emissions from the 2013 baseline.

The board accepted the monitoring report for SD-7, indicating they find the utility to be sufficiently in compliance with the directive. They also agreed upon some revisions to that policy going forward.

Changes include the addition of an environmental justice component and a recognition of energy supply, technology development and climate adaptation as being co-equally important to carbon reductions in addressing climate change. Interim metrics toward OPPD’s net-zero carbon goal will also be added. They will be determined by the utility’s next Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) to be submitted to the Western Area Power Administration in 2026 as part of a long-term hydroelectric power contract with the organization. The IRP serves as a roadmap for future generation and power purchase decisions.

The board also received a monitoring report on Strategic Directive 13, Stakeholder Outreach and Engagement (SD-13).

The directive seeks to ensure an integrated, clear and transparent engagement process that provides meaningful ways for customers to participate and provide feedback, representative of the interested and/or impacted customer segments we serve. The policy also directs OPPD to share context with our customers around key decisions.

“We’ve taken a holistic view that’s helped evolve how, when and where we share context,” said Kate Thomas, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications. Thomas outlined some methods through which OPPD communicates with customers including OPPDTheWire.com, social media, “Outlets” bill inserts, public board events, customer care interactions, government and community relations channels and more.

OPPD’s outreach and engagement projects have increased more than tenfold since 2018. Some of the major projects on which the utility has been engaging with customers include new generation like Platteview Solar and Standing Bear and Turtle Creek Stations, the extension of operations at North Omaha Station, transmission infrastructure improvements, corporate operating plans, strategic directive updates and more.

The utility continuously evaluates processes to improve outreach and engagement. For instance, Thomas said, OPPD learned from its response to the historic July 31 storm and is now sharing more frequent, practical content to provide clearer context to customers. OPPD is also producing more and new content, including on Instagram — a new channel for OPPD — as it expands its outreach.

 “We’ve made strides in the breadth of our outreach,” Thomas said. “But we see opportunities to increase our depth of communications – creating deeper, more tailored relationships with our customers.”

 The board accepted the SD-13 monitoring report, finding the utility to be sufficiently in compliance with the directive.