Author Archive for: KMEA

The conference held on October 23 and 24, 2024, in Wichita, Kansas, was a significant event that brought together member cities, vendors from the energy world and KMEA/KMGA staff. Hosted at the Drury Plaza Hotel Broadview, the conference featured a packed schedule filled with insightful sessions and networking opportunities.

The conference kicked off with  KMGA and KMEA Board of Directors meetings.

The evening featured a reception and a recognition banquet, where the award winners were recognized for the significant contributions they made to their communities.

This award was established in 2016, in honor of Ron Huxman.  Ron played a leading role in the day-to-day activities of the agency, as well as serving as President, Executive Committee member and Joint Board member.  The award honors his contributions to KMGA and is awarded to individuals who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and devoted service to both KMGA and to the Municipal Natural Gas Industry.

This year’s recipient of the Ron Huxman award was Jodi Wade, the City Clerk of the City of LaCygne. Jodi has played a crucial role in various aspects of city management, from budgeting and staffing to maintenance and community projects. Her tenure as City Clerk has seen her participate in many city projects including a major water project, a major sewer project, a CCLIP intersection project, and currently a sewer lagoon project in addition to a pending application for a grant to tackle a water plant project. Jodi’s dedication to her community is also evident in her contributions to local recreation, which includes the development of new public facilities.

The KMEA and  KMGA Board of Directors meetings are just around the corner. The meetings will be held in conjunction with KMEA/KMGA Annual Conference on October 23rd in Wichita, KS.

We encourage you to sign up for your attendance by following the link below whether you plan to attend in person or virtual.  This helps us ensure we will have quorum for both the KMGA and the KMEA board of directors meeting.

Three Mile Island, the site of worst nuclear disaster in the United States, is reopening and will exclusively sell the power to Microsoft as the company searches for energy sources to fuel its AI ambitions.

Constellation Energy announced Friday that its Unit 1 reactor, which closed five years ago, is expected to be revived in 2028, dependent on Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval. Microsoft will purchase the carbon-free energy produced from it to power its data centers to support artificial intelligence.

Financial terms of the 20-year agreement, which Constellation called its largest ever, weren’t disclosed.

“Powering industries critical to our nation’s global economic and technological competitiveness, including data centers, requires an abundance of energy that is carbon-free and reliable every hour of every day, and nuclear plants are the only energy sources that can consistently deliver on that promise,” said Constellation CEO Joe Dominguez in a press release.

On September 13, 2024 the City of Ottawa held a designation ceremony at the city’s auditorium. Their combined cycle turbine was designed as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recognizing its pivotal role in the evolution of combined cycle power plants.

The combined cycle was the world’s first pre-engineered gas-turbine to enter service. It was the first of only two STAG 103s (steam and gas) made by GE. The second was installed by the City of Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1971. Ottawa logged only about 11,000 operating hours after hitting its 100,000-hr milestone at the end of 1993. This industry icon was retired in place in 2020, after spending two decades in standby service. It was started periodically for training and equipment-preservation purposes. Hutchinson’s STAG 103 was taken out of service in 2019 and now is being dismantled.

The ceremony was well attended and afterwards a tour of the power plant was provided where everyone got to see the STAG unit.