Dawson power: Out with old, in with new

Post date: Sep 09, 2009 1:49:6 AM

Photo by: Courtesy.

Dawson Public Power District opens for business in its new headquarters Monday. The building provides DPPD more space for vehicle storage and maintenance and room to expand for the next 65 years.

By HARRY G. PERKINS Hub Regional Correspondent, September 8, 2009; Kearney HUB on line at http://www.kearneyhub.com

LEXINGTON - In 1943, Dawson Public Power District served 1,530 meters over 840 miles of power lines and employed 12 people.

Families in much of rural central Nebraska did not have electricity.

When Dawson Public Power moves into its new headquarters Saturday, the company will be providing electricity to 23,455 meters spread over 5,773 miles of lines. It employs 80 people, including 20 people at facilities north of Kearney and at Ravenna, Sumner, Gothenburg and North Platte. Its service area covers 5,500 square miles that include 14,000 homes, farms and ranches, 2,000 businesses and 5,500 irrigation wells.

"The district understands that future demands for electricity will grow. With that demand will also be the demand for improved power quality and reliability," District Manager Bob Heinz said.

"The new headquarters is just a building. What happens inside is more important. The coming years will see great improvements. We have built for the next 65 years."

The new headquarters cost $11.6 million. About 2 percent of Dawson customers' bills will go to pay for the building, Heinz said. "If you have a monthly bill of $100, $1.95 of that bill will be used to meet our bond requirements."

The new headquarters building is at the corner of U.S. Highway 283 and Road 433, commonly called the Smithfield Road, about a mile south of the Lexington interchange on Interstate 80.

Dawson Power employees visited other power companies that have recently built new facilities. "We asked them what they would have done differently, what they would change. This was very useful in our planning," Heinz said.

Site preparation began in 2006 on the 30-acre site. Construction started two years ago.

The building contains almost 71,000 square feet. Almost half of that is for an indoor truck barn that provides more space for vehicle storage and maintenance. The building will house all the district's materials and equipment and includes a drive-up window where bills can be paid.

The old building at 300 S. Washington St. in Lexington was built in 1943 and has 30,000 square feet with 7,400 square feet for vehicle storage. There is an off-site facility. The old building will serve customers until 5 p.m. Friday.

The new building uses geothermal heating and cooling through the use of 132 wells on its premises at depths of 200 feet.

Heinz said the building includes a smart grid. "The district has an extensive mapping system in place that tells us where piece of equipment is connected to our grid. The district needs intelligent instruments on the line that report things back such as low voltage or breaker operations.

"That upgraded system begins at the customer's meter and pushes data back to the district office where specific alerts will let us know where work is needed," he said. "Manual and tedious line patrol will be replaced with intelligent automation that lets us do a better job of preventing outages rather than respond after a customer calls."

He customers have two contacts with Dawson Power, when they get their bill and when they have an outage.

"Dawson will have constant contact with their meter when the smart grid is in place," he said.

Heinz said the new building provides quick access to I-80 and highways north and south so the district can go in any direction quickly in an emergency.

OPENS MONDAY

Dawson Public Power District's new facility at 75191 Road 433, one mile south of the Lexington interchange on Interstate 80, will open for business Monday. Regular office hours will be 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

During the move, Dawson PPD asks that faxes be redirected to its Kearney office at 308-236-9848. The district's phone numbers and mailing address will remain the same. Outage and emergency calls will be handled as usual during the move.

An open house and formal dedication will be Oct. 10.