OPPD customer raises concerns about utility’s spending to curtail wind energy
Credit: By Bella Caracta · Published: Mar. 25, 2025, at wowt.com ~~
In the last five years, OPPD paid wind energy suppliers more than $17 million in compensable curtailments, which means power wasn’t being generated at the time.
Throwing money into a fire pit.
That’s what one OPPD customer, David Begley, feels the power company is doing.
“That’s a failure to me,” said Begley. “You can just get some 20 dollar bills, throw them in and you can burn 9 million bucks.”
Here’s why Begley says that: According to a public records request, over the last five years, OPPD paid $17 million in compensable curtailments to wind energy suppliers. In other words, they paid wind suppliers, without getting energy in return.
In 2024, it was $9 million.
“Could’ve been buying stronger poles, putting lines underground, doing more tree trimming. You just vaporized 9 million,” said Begley.
First Alert 6 asked why the public power company was spending money and not getting a product back.
Here’s what Carol Waszak, manager of Renewable Energy Resources for OPPD said: “So those compensable curtailments are costs it takes for the facility for when it isn’t producing electricity but it could have produced.”
She used this analogy: “You still have your car payments even if you don’t use your car.”
OPPD’s annual budget is $2.3 billion to power more than 400,000 customers. The company said wind energy generates enough to power all of those homes, and then some, every year.
OPPD wants to have a diverse energy portfolio though, said Waszak. It has several forms of energy, including coal, wind, solar, gas, oil, and hydroelectric. (An earlier version included nuclear power however OPPD took the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station offline and began decommissioning it in 2016). OPPD says it is good to have diversity in its portfolio so that if one type of generation is not working for some reason then another source could help pick up the slack. An example is when ice jams along the river impact coal plants, which has happened.
Waszak says the $9 million they spent last year on curtailments is worth it.
“That’s a small amount compared to the overall amount of energy, capacity, and the renewable energy credits we receive from the facilities,” she said.
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