Municipal Utilities

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Municipal Utilities Community Wind

• Colin Hansen
• Executive Director
• Kansas Municipal Utilities

Kansas Community Wind Workshop Cloud County
Community College Concordia, Kansas October 31,
2006
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• Statewide trade association for municipal
  utilities
• Electric
• Natural Gas
• Water
• Wastewater
• Telecommunications
• 171 communities operating one or more municipal
  utilities
• KMU formed in 1928
• Headquartered in McPherson

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2006 Membership
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Public Power in Kansas

• 120 municipal electric utilities
• Largest Kansas City BPU (65k meters)
• Smallest City of Radium (23 meters)
• Median 879 Customers
• Approximately 18 of Kansas citizens served by a
  municipal utility
• 2 joint-action agencies
• Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA)
• Kansas Power Pool (KPP)

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Public Power in Kansas

• 63 municipal utilities have generating facilities
• City power plants
• Primarily utilized for peaking or reliability
  purposes
• Typically inefficient (and expensive) natural gas
  or diesel engines
• Recent rise in cost of fuel has made operating
  these plants very costly

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Power Supply Contracts

• Baseload Generation
• Kansas City BPU is only municipal with actual
  baseload capacity
• Nearman Power Plant (coal)
• Wholesale Power Customers
• Full-Requirements Contracts
• Partial-Requirements Contracts

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Power Supply Contracts

• Full-Requirements Contracts
• Purchase all their electricity through exclusive
  contract with supplier
• Westar, Aquila, Kansas City Power Light,
  Sunflower, Midwest Energy
• Often smaller cities
• Haven, Hillsboro, Holyrood, Isabel, LaHarpe,
  Lindsborg, Lucas, Luray, etc.

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Power Supply Contracts

• Partial-Requirements Contracts
• Utilize city power plant to lower cost of power
  supply
• City generates during peak periods
• Some outside power may come from other sources
• Western Area Power Administration
• Southwestern Area Power Administration
• Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA, KPP)
• Typically larger cities
• Herington, Hoisington, Holton, Horton, Hugoton,
  Iola, etc.

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Right Time for Community Wind?

• Increasing Wholesale Power Costs
• Power supply costs for some cities may double
  over next several years
• Wind energy economics becoming more and more
  attractive
• Existing Power Contracts Terminated
• Transmission Constraints
• High Fuel Costs
• Need for Economic Development

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What is Needed?

• Education
• Skepticism of Wind Energy Remains
• Reliability Questions
• Capacity (Peak Day) Mindset
• Incentives (Iowa, Minnesota)
• Technical Financial Assistance
• Numerous Duties of the Typical Municipal Utility
  Manager
• Support from Electric Suppliers
• Load Following Service
• Impact on Existing Power Supply Contract
• How to Accommodate Wind Energy?

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What is Needed?

• Transmission Issues
• Interaction between municipal utility, incumbent
  power supplier, and Southwest Power Pool
• Municipals transmission dependent utilities
  (TDUs)
• Kansas transmission constrained
• Impact on wholesale power market
• Municipal Champion
• Iowa Waverly Light Power
• Need project to demonstrate overall value to the
  community
• Questions?