A new power generating facility will be the subject of a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning at Tinker Air Force Base and feature leaders of the air base, the utility and Congress.
U.S. Rep. Tom Cole will be among dignitaries on hand for the 9 a.m. ceremony to create added critical electrical power to the important military facility. Others include Sean Trauschke, OGE Energy Corp Chairman and Col. Fenciso Harris, the 72nd Air Base Wing Commander at Tinker Air Force Base. The project involves the expansion and replacement of the current electric peaking plant with 90 MW of power.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric operates the current facility. Tinker AFB acquired land from the Oklahoma Industries Authority neighboring the AFB and leases the land to OG&E who constructed and operates the new peaking plant. The OG&E Tinker Power Plant, located at 3001 S Douglas Blvd, Oklahoma City, OK 73145, was a 82 MW natural gas peaking facility. Operating since 1971, it providesd critical backup power and islanding capabilities to Tinker Air Force Base, with plans originally intended for retirement in 2025 due to its age.
The plant serves as an emergency backup and offers electrical islanding operations for the air base, ensuring energy resilience for critical missions. It acts as a peaking plant which runs during high demand to support regional grid voltage. It also consists of two natural gas combustion turbines.
OG&E originally announced plans to retire the current plant with its Integrated Resource Plan. Two aero-derivative simple-cycle
combustion turbines (CT), with a current generating capacity of approximately 64 megawatts (MW) combined, were originally installed at OG&E’s Mustang power plant site in 1971. In 1990, OG&E moved these two units to Tinker AFB creating an electric peaking plant to support the base’s needs for backup power and Electrically Islanded Operation (EIO), where the base completely disconnects from the grid and is powered solely using the electric peaking plant, a key to maintaining energy resiliency and reducing
overall risk to the Department of Air Force (DAF) mission objectives (AFMC 2023).
OG&E also routinely operates the units at peak times to maintain regional grid voltage, with Tinker AFB being the first customer
in line for power. The two units were planned to be retired in 2025 after 54 years in services; such units are commonly retired after an average of 30 years of operation (OG&E 2021).
While the new plant is fired by natural gas, OG&E and Tinker at one time considered renewable energy sources combined with battery storage. But the land area requirements either on Tinker AFB and the nearby off-site location were not available at a scale allowing the two partners to construct.
Background information provided in the announcement of the ribbon-cutting ceremony indicated that the project would have required more than 200 acres of land for such a solar farm. Wind generation on-site was also not considered practicable due to height restrictions at the Air Base plus space availability. Additionally, battery storage could not be rate-based to multiple customers, so its use as an alternative was also eliminated from consideration.