OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — OPPD is continuing conversations with the North Omaha community as the date for changing two coal-powered units at the North Omaha Station to natural gas shifts to 2026 instead of the end of this year.
North Omaha residents, elected officials and OPPD team members came together at Florence City Hall for a group discussion on Tuesday.
This included what matters most to the community and what they expect from their utility company.
For OPPD, it was important to share the challenges they face in bringing the new generators online. These issues include workforce and supply chain.
"We want the community to understand the why. We don't want folks to become electrical engineers. We don't want them to understand all the nuances. But we want them to understand that there are specific processes and steps that have to occur to ensure safe and reliable operations, and those steps are delayed," said VP of Systems Transformation Brad Underwood.
He says a lot of those steps are outside of the company's control. Residents discussed their concerns like health and communication but also the urgency to close the coal plant. This is something Kay Carne, a resident of North Omaha for over 25 years says she hopes to see as soon as possible.
"I also think it is a clean energy issue. I am concerned about the issue of climate change for my children and for everyone on this planet and this plant has been around a long time and I think it is time to move to cleaner sources of energy," said Carne.
OPPD says they plan to have more meetings and the changes are now expected around 2026.
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