State Senators
On June 3rd, twenty seven state senators loaded up a bus headed to southeast Nebraska to hear from energy leaders and technicians at Cooper Nuclear Station and Nebraska City Station.
Going Big — Getting Energized
The Go Big Future series kept moving on June 3 with Energy in Action — a day inside two of Nebraska’s largest power plants. The day brought together Nebraska state senators, their legislative staff, and partners from the state’s public power entities for tours of Cooper Nuclear Station and Nebraska City Station, with conversation and lunch in between.
With demand on Nebraska’s grid rising faster than it has in decades, the goal was simple: let the people shaping energy policy see the system firsthand.
Cooper Nuclear Station
The day opened at Cooper Nuclear Station, owned and operated by the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). NPPD is Nebraska’s largest electric utility, reaching 86 of the state’s 93 counties and serving an estimated 600,000 Nebraskans through retail and wholesale partnerships.
Senators walked Cooper’s turbine deck, where they observed fuel rod testing, and looked inside its massive control room, where banks of instrumentation quietly oversee 835 megawatts of reliable, around-the-clock, carbon-free generation. Decades of continuous investment and updates have kept Cooper a clean, safe, precision-run facility that reframes what most people picture when they think of nuclear power.
Nebraska City Station
From Brownville, the group traveled to Nebraska City Station, owned and operated by the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), which serves more than 855,000 Nebraskans across Omaha and 13 surrounding counties. Coal remains Nebraska’s single largest energy source statewide, supplying roughly 43–44% of the power Nebraskans use.
Coal arrives at Nebraska City Station around the clock by train on a railroad OPPD owns. Once you’re inside the plant, that level of intentionality makes sense. Senators worked their way up elevators, grated stairs, and walkways, past massive boilers and combustion systems to reach the top of the building, where staff walked through how modern scrubbing systems strip ash and contaminants out of the air before they ever leave the stack. From that vantage point, attendees could observe the sheer physical footprint of what it takes to keep 1,300-plus megawatts of baseload power reliably available in eastern Nebraska.
Aurora Research Study
The Chamber Foundation distributed and discussed its latest research, From Demand to Delivery: Energy, Infrastructure, and Powering Nebraska’s Growth, prepared by Aurora Energy Research (April 2026).
The study confirms what the tour made visible: Nebraska faces a real wave of new electricity demand, requiring significant new generation and continued transmission and gas investment. Stakeholder interviews surfaced four themes — the need for statewide leadership, local permitting as a bottleneck, Nebraska’s real competitive advantages, and the public power model as a strategic asset — all of which echoed directly in what attendees heard over lunch.
Partnership Powers the Grid
Lunch at Nebraska City Station featured Javier Fernandez, President and CEO of OPPD, and Tom Kent, President and CEO of NPPD. Both leaders emphasized the same message: meeting Nebraska’s demand growth and winning the next wave of economic development will require continued collaboration between the state’s public power providers, private industry, community leaders, and policymakers.
They pointed to the public power model as a real strategic advantage for Nebraska, and were direct about the urgency of acting now on a coordinated, statewide strategy — both to keep the system reliable and to position Nebraska to win the economic growth and innovation that come with it.
What’s Next?
We’re grateful to the state senators, staff, and partners who spent the day with us, and to NPPD and OPPD for opening their doors. The Go Big Future series continues this year — stay tuned for what’s next.
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