On October 23rd the city of Oberlin took delivery of two new CAT C175 3.0 MW engines. This marks the first delivery of equipment under KMEA’s new financing program. These engines will replace the city’s current, outdated generation. In addition to providing Oberlin with easy-to-run, reliable generation that will serve the community in time of need for many years to come, they also help the city meet its Southwest Power Pool capacity requirement .
The KMEA financing program is aimed to give cities an option when a large, capital-intensive project, like the purchase of new generation, is needed for the utility. KMEA assumes the project-related debt on behalf of the city. The city reimburses KMEA through a capacity contract payment that is simply included on KMEA’s normal monthly power supply bill.
“The City of Oberlin’s staff and governing body placed their trust in KMEA to get this project off the ground. The process was long and tedious and there were several opportunities for the city to step away from the project, but they were as determined as KMEA to get this done.” says Gerry Bieker, managing director of electric operations.
Congratulations to the city of Oberlin as it reaches another project milestone. The new engines are expected to be fully operational by the spring of 2024.
