An electric idea

By Launce Rake

Sunday, Aug. 13, 2006 | 7:31 a.m.

Nevada has plentiful, but mostly untapped, resources to power future

Abundant sunshine. Scouring winds. Heat and pressure generated deep underground. On paper, at least, Nevada should be a cornucopia of clean, natural, renewable energy.

The reality, however, is a disappointment for those who see the potential of renewable energy as a promise that if not denied, is at least delayed.

In 1997, 2001 and 2003, the Nevada Legislature passed laws designed to foster development of renewable energy in the Silver State, where Sierra Pacific Power and its subsidiary, Nevada Power, have a monopoly on electric supply.

The rule dictates that the companies will provide 6 percent of their electricity from renewable sources this year, rising to 20 percent by 2015. Nationally, only California, which dictates that energy companies will reach the 20 percent mark by 2010, is more aggressive.

Nevada Power, the electric provider for Clark County, and Sierra Pacific, are not yet meeting the legally mandated goal. Company officials say that statewide, the companies' aggregate portfolio comes close - about 5 percent - and the future is much brighter.

"We're acquiring more and more all the time," says Thomas Fair, Nevada Power executive for renewable energy. "Renewable energy is growing rapidly in Nevada."

Fair says Sierra Pacific, the parent company, will spend about $2 billion on renewable energy between now and 2015, and the share of renewable energy will continue to grow even as the state's overall demand for energy also grows. The company will exceed the 20 percent goal before 2015, Fair predicts.

Advocates have for years argued that Nevada could lead the world in renewable energy. And the world - or at least some parts of it - is ready for new, clean technologies.

In Galway Bay, Ireland, researchers are studying an ocean-wave generating technology that advocates say could provide electricity to 20 million European homes. An Australian company is working on a new "solar tower" technology in the Outback that it says will be capable of producing enough energy for 200,000 homes. A British consortium is planning to build a wind farm outside London that could supply a quarter of the city's electricity needs, and more than a dozen wind farms in Spain provide 6 percent of that country's energy needs.

Outside of ocean waves, Nevada has some ideal conditions for producing renewable energy.

Investors are taking notice. Companies are planning to produce enough power for about 200,000 homes from wind energy in Northern Nevada, according to the American Wind Energy Association.

In Boulder City, North Carolina-based Solargenix Energy Co. is building Nevada Solar One, a solar site capable of supplying power to 48,000 homes, on 350 acres in Eldorado Valley.

Nevada is already one of the world's leading areas for geothermal energy production, with 277 megawatts providing about 9 percent of Northern Nevada's electric needs from a dozen sites.

Nevada Geothermal Power Inc., which is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, estimates that geothermal energy could provide more than 3,500 megawatts - more than all Clark County uses during a winter day. (During peak demand periods in the summer, Nevada Power provides more than 5,500 megawatts to Southern Nevada.)

Nevada Geothermal this week signed an agreement with Sierra Pacific Power to provide 35 megawatts from a new plant in northeast Nevada. The advantages of geothermal include long-term price stability, unlike fossil fuels, which have experienced wild price swings - mostly up - over the last several years.

In Nevada, the resource "is easy to access," says Shelley Kirk, a company spokeswoman. "It's near the surface."

And with the renewable portfolio that Sierra Pacific is required to buy, Nevada Geothermal has a guaranteed market, she says.

But despite some good news for renewable advocates, environmentalists are frustrated with the pace of development.

"We're supposed to have 6 percent from renewable sources. We only have 2 percent," says Jane Feldman, an activist with the Nevada arm of the Sierra Club, referring to Nevada Power's share of renewable energy in the Las Vegas market. Nevada Power has submitted a compliance plan to the Nevada Public Utilities Commission that lists the percentage requirements for the next 20 years - but doesn't mention the 2006 requirement, she says.

"If they're not where they're supposed to be right now, their plan isn't going to catch up," Feldman says.

The Public Utilities Commission is now considering the companies' plan to develop renewable energy over the next 15 years. A commission spokeswoman declined comment, citing the agency's oversight of the utilities on the issue.

Timothy Hay, who as a former consumer advocate for the Nevada secretary of state worked closely with the Public Utilities Commission on energy and utility issues from 2000-2005, is also critical of the progress in renewable sources over the last decade:

"We've seen a large amount of development in other states and we're still struggling to get off the ground."

Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power have essentially received waivers for the last two reporting periods, he says.

"Compared to other states, we're certainly behind where we should be," says Hay, a Reno native whose law practice consults on energy issues.

Utility officials say they are working diligently to incorporate renewables into their long-term planning. One major source, expected to start producing electricity next year, is a 64-megawatt solar plant under construction in Boulder City.

And earlier this month, Sierra Pacific announced it had contracted for 60 megawatts of power from geothermal sources in Northern Nevada's Lander County.

Harnessing the wind here, however, continues to founder.

According to the American Wind Energy Association, not a single watt of power is generated by wind power in Nevada. The Public Utilities Commission lists seven residentially owned wind-power turbines, but Kristy Wahl, commission spokeswoman, says those produce "min uscule" amounts of power.

Advocates for that technology have a formidable obstacle to establishing large wind-powered generators in much of the state.

In March, the federal departments of Defense and Homeland Security announced a policy to fight wind farms within the line-of-sight of military radars. That includes most of Clark County, which is home to Nellis Air Force Base and Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field; Nye County, which is home to the Nevada Test Site; and Lincoln County, which includes much of the Nellis bombing range.

The military's restriction effectively bars wind farms from anywhere south of a line from Tonopah, in Nye County, to Caliente, in Lincoln County. Other parts of the state also are off limits for wind power.

Areas around Carson City and Reno are home to the Nevada Air National Guard, and Fallon is the site of a naval air station, the "Navy's premier tactical air warfare training center."

A Nellis spokesman directed questions to the Defense secretary's office. Spokesmen on the radar-and-wind-farms issue with the Defense Department, apparently preoccupied with a national security administration alert on air travel, were not immediately available for comment Thursday.

The Air Force, in 2002, put the skids on a project to develop a wind farm on the Nevada Test Site because of similar concerns about the impact of the turbines on military radar.

Under a congressional directive, the military is studying the restriction on wind farms near its air space, and not all of Nevada is off limits to wind power. Projects have been proposed for White Pine County, near Ely, to go with planned coal-fired power plants.

LS Power, a national company, plans to build a 1,600-megawatt, coal-fired plant in White Pine County and a transmission line to Las Vegas, 250 miles to the south. As part of the project, Nevada Wind LLC could contribute up to 200 megawatts from a wind farm near Ely.

Nevada Power is planning a competing 1,500-megawatt, coal-powered station outside Ely and is considering development of wind farms in the same area to potentially produce another 200 megawatts.

While large, industrial sources such as wind farms continue to be the model for most energy production, some demand is being satisfied by a new model of energy efficiency and production.

"Distributed generation" turns energy consumers into energy producers. Businesses and homeowners are installing photovoltaic cells on their buildings.

Steve Rypka, a Las Vegas homeowner, is a true believer who has outfitted his home with the electricity-producing solar cells. He is a board member of the Southern Nevada chapter of the American Solar Energy Society.

"On a sunny day we'll generate more energy then we need," Rypka says. "At night we pull energy back from the grid."

Among the benefits of distributed generation - the decentralized approach to energy production - is that energy is produced where it's used, thus rendering big transmission lines less necessary.

"It lessens the load on the entire grid," Rypka says. We're creating a more robust infrastructure that's less prone to failure."

Outfitting a home with 5 kilowatts of solar power, which can supply a typical home, can be expensive - more than $35,000, according to Nevada Power, which offers a residential rebate of $3,000 per kilowatt for such systems.

Chris Brooks, renewable director for Bombard Electric, one of Las Vegas' biggest electrical contractors, says his company is busy designing, selling and installing photovoltaic solar cells on homes here. Residential owners are taking advantage of Nevada Power's rebates and a $2,000 federal tax rebate, he says.

"There's tons of demand through Nevada Power's SolarGenerations program," Brooks says.

Photovoltaic systems only pencil out for those willing to make a long-term commitment. Brooks says a typical system will actually cost $40,000-$45,000.

Such systems can save homeowners $1,200 a year at today's rates, he says, and electric rates are "going nowhere but up."

Rypka says one of the benefits includes the satisfaction of having an environmentally sound lifestyle that does not put carbon produced from burning fossil fuels into the atmosphere.

Many scientists believe that atmospheric carbon from human activity is the major contributor to global warming, an issue which continues to generate scientific and political concern.

Among the major sources of carbon in the United States is from power production from coal. That will continue to be a major source of energy, both renewable advocates and Nevada Power agree.

Hay, the former Consumer Advocate, is concerned that large, traditional projects - such as those planned by LS Power and Nevada Power for White Pine County - could squeeze out money and market share for the development of renewables.

But Nevada Power's Fair says the transmission line that is planned to accompany the White Pine project is important for the future development of the state's renewable resources because it will connect Northern and Southern Nevada. Getting renewable power where it is needed has been a problem, he says. The north has supplies of geothermal energy, but the company has no quick way to get power from the north to the south or vice versa.

Fair says the technical issues will be overcome, and he remains bullish on the outlook for renewable energy in Nevada.

Carl Linville, the director of the state energy office, says the development of such resources isn't going to be as easy as some would like.

"Nevada has world-class geothermal, very good wind and world-class solar," he says. "There is no reason why all three of the resources should not eventually be developed. Are we moving as fast as we could?

"It is a paradigm shift in the way energy is produced and delivered. Therefore it is inherently difficult to make the transition. But it is one that we are in the process of making."