The Omaha Public Power District plans to upgrade the District’s microwave communication system.

The current system provides both voice and high speed data transmission throughout the District. It went into operation in 1994 and was last upgraded in 2000. The system eventually became difficult to maintain and technologically obsolete.

The OPPD Board of Directors voted to authorize a contract to communications specialist Alcatel for $4,087,423 for the purchase and installation of new microwave communication equipment. Alcatel was the original supplier and manufacturer of OPPD’s system.

Plans call for upgrading the system while keeping the existing equipment in service. Alcatel also has guaranteed that, as technology changes, it will be possible to upgrade the new equipment without completely replacing the entire system.

The new installations are planned to begin this July and expected to be completed in November 2013.

The utility serves more than 340,000 customers in thirteen counties covering over 5,000 square miles.

In other action, the board:
… authorized management to purchase from Flowserve Corporation of Irving, Texas, two refurbishment kits for the reactor coolant pump’s mechanical seals at Fort Calhoun Station for $393,344.

… approved a measure to revise the District’s Open Access Transmission Tariff and rates for Grandfathered Agreement customers.

… approved awarding a contract for $511,818 to Lessard Contracting, Inc., of Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, for installation of a liner in the ash water holding pond at North Omaha Station.

… approved the appointment of J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc. as an investment manager for a portion of OPPD’s retirement fund.

… indefinitely postponed the awarding of two contracts equipping for a new substation near Blair, Nebraska.

… presented the 2009 J. M. Harding Award for Excellence for efficient and innovative energy use to Gallup of Omaha. The District has presented the award to one of its commercial or industrial customers annually since 1984.