General C.W. Burdick Station Information
The C.W. Burdick Station is Grand Island's second power generating facility. It was named after Clarence W. Burdick, who was commissioner of the Grand Island Water, Light & Ice Dept. from October 6th, 1920 to November 30th, 1960. Mr. Burdick was a very progressive yet conservative director of utilities. He realized the importance of adequate and dependable supplies of electricity and water. Burdick Station became the central location where Grand Island's electricity was generated and distributed from 1956 to 1981. Burdick Station also became the central control center for the pumping and quality control of Grand Island's domestic water supply.
Today Burdick Station is used primarily as a standby power generating facility and continues to be the central control center for Grand Island's domestic water supply. Burdick Station frequently produces power in the summer months as Nebraska's heat and humidity increases the demand for electricity above what Platte Generating Station (PGS) can supply. PGS serves the Grand Island service area as it's primary power generator, as PGS uses abundant, inexpensive, low sulfur coal, and Burdick burns expensive natural gas and No. 6 fuel oil. Total net power generation at Burdick Station for 1996 was 15,852,971 kilowatt hours.