Aeroderivative
turbines

The turbines are being financed as part of Platte River’s long term resource and strategic budget planning, with costs phased in over multiple years to limit near term rate impacts. Platte River’s approach is to maintain reliability and financial sustainability while transitioning away from coal.

Platte River needs five turbines, each to produce an average of 40 megawatts, to provide flexibility to run only the amount of capacity needed at a given time.

 The aeroderivative turbines will primarily be used as fast‑starting, dispatchable resources to support the grid when renewable generation is unavailable or insufficient. They are designed to:

1. Start quickly to respond to sudden changes in demand or renewable output
2. Operate during extreme weather, outages and peak demand events
3. Complement wind, solar, battery storage and virtual power plant resources
4. Operate at relatively low annual capacity factors, helping ensure reliability in a power system increasingly dominated by renewable energy
5. Support ancillary services, or the support services that help keep the electric grid stable, reliable and balanced in real time

The aeroderivative turbines will not be a one‑for‑one replacement for Rawhide Unit 1. Rawhide Unit 1, a coal‑fired unit, is scheduled to retire by the end of 2029. The aeroderivative turbines are one part of a broader replacement strategy that also includes large additions of wind, solar, battery storage and demand‑side resources. Together, these resources will replace the energy and reliability services provided by Unit 1, while significantly reducing carbon emissions.

Aeroderivative turbines provide fast, flexible power to keep the system reliable as more renewables are added to the system. They can quickly respond when demand changes or renewable generation fluctuates.

The new aeroderivative turbines have fast start capabilities and can ramp up and down more efficiently than Platte River’s existing gas turbines.