By Rick Nelson, NREA general manager

    I have always been a fan of history. To me it is fascinating to see what the struggles were before our time. Many years ago, I had a customer bring me a copy of the Rural Electric Nebraskan April 1972 issue. I was not exactly sure why, maybe they had an extra copy or wanted me to read something specific. While I have used the editorial by Bob Anderson, Spirit of Nebraska, in several articles over the years, I went back recently to read other parts of that magazine. 
    This was the issue that Bob Anderson also reported on the Irrigation vs Electric Power conference that was held at the University of Nebraska Lincoln.  A panel was moderated by Gene Lienemann, then manager at Wheatbelt PPD, in the same magazine. Some may remember Gene, because if you played golf, you would have seen his bright, green pants.
    William Mayben, partner at the time at R.W. Beck, an engineering firm that did some work for NPPD was also on the panel. Some may remember Mr. Mayben in another role at NPPD. Here are a few quotes that may set the stage for the punch line at the end.
    “In Nebraska where the power supply costing base is shifting from purchases of low-cost federal hydroelectric power to costs associated with ownership of new, optimum-sized generation plants constructed and operated during this recent inflationary period, the ultimate consumer will undoubtedly incur power cost increases,” Mayben said.
    “Since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, I want to call attention of this conference that it is becoming more evident daily that Nebraska and most Americans will soon be faced with a critical power shortage,” said Governor James Exon. “….we are looking forward to someday, somehow, sometime, a shortage of electrical energy.”
    Do we see any parallels to today? The first is new technology coming into play in rural Nebraska in 1972, deep well irrigation. In today’s terms, that would be large data centers, bio-economy projects, etc. Constructing generating plants during “inflationary” times not just in Nebraska, but across the nation.
    There was also discussion in the article about NPPD implementing new rates to “recover” the demand costs associated with this new load, a 12-month rachet for 65 percent of the peak from the previous year. 
    The last parallel in the article is the governor’s concern about the ability to serve new load because Nebraska was facing “a critical power shortage.” As a side note, during this time it was thought that natural gas supplies had diminished to nothing and therefore, not a means of generating power, and the governor was excited about having two nuclear plants coming online in Nebraska. 
    The take away…..some 53 years ago there was a newly found load in rural Nebraska called irrigation and it was assumed that it would be the end of low-cost power. Generation plants were built to handle the added load. It feels like we are there again today, but now the new load is data-related load along with value-added agriculture load.
    Somehow, Nebraska survived and thrives today after this traumatic experience in the history of the electric industry and a lot of trials and tribulations. New generation was added, and a new rate was implemented by NPPD to recover the costs, thankfully that had changed many years ago, but that is my point. 
    Nebraska will prevail and history will show yet again that it often repeats itself and smart people will find the right solution for Nebraska. We can learn from the historical narrative that shaped the electric industry in Nebraska.