The new Ames power plant will be next to the site of the current one, the Ames City Council decided at its Tuesday meeting. This location will be much cheaper and faster to develop than other options.

Why the location works: City workers spent time checking other possible sites around Ames for the new power generating equipment. They looked for spots away from homes and downtown per the city council’s request. However, they could not find a better place.

Any other location would cost at least 25% more money than the coal yard site. The coal yard already has most of what the new equipment needs, such as power lines and natural gas pipes nearby. Other locations would need all new connections, which costs a lot of money and takes time to build.

A different spot?: If the council had chosen a different location, the project would take at least six more months to plan and the city would need to hire engineers to study the new site and figure out what equipment it needs. Only after that work was done could the city start designing the actual power plant.

These delays could cause bigger problems. If officials don’t finish the project by June 2028, the city might have to pay $2.3 million in extra power generating costs. Also, the longer the city waits, equipment such as transformers and generators will be more expensive. Prices for these items go up 3% to 5% each year.

The original plan: Back in July, city staff asked for bids from engineering companies to help design new generating equipment. Staffers always planned to use the old coal yard site, which sits south of the railroad tracks next to the existing power plant.

During that meeting, council members asked staff to look at other possible locations before making a final choice. The council wanted options that were far from neighborhoods and the busy Main Street area.

New equipment needs: The new generating equipment needs several important connections to work properly. In addition to natural gas pipes and electric power lines, it needs a substation and backup systems in case something breaks. The coal yard site already has most of these connections nearby, but other locations would need them built from scratch.

Building new connections means digging up roads and disturbing neighborhoods along the way. It also means spending much more of the city’s money and waiting longer to complete the project.