Advocacy groups form coalition to advocate for clean energy policies

By Daniel Rothberg

Thursday, Aug. 4, 2016 | 2 a.m.

A coalition of nine pro-renewable groups will formally organize this week in conjunction with the launch of its website. RenewNV — backed by groups including the League of Women Voters, the Institute for a Progressive Nevada and the Nevada Conservation League — plans to rally the public around energy-efficiency, large-scale renewable projects and an increased deployment of rooftop solar.

The coalition comes as voters and state legislators will be asked to weigh a number of energy-related issues in the coming months. Voters in November will face a question on the ballot about whether Nevada should create a competitive electricity market and another question, pending its qualification, that asks it to restore favorable rooftop solar rates. And several policy recommendations from Gov. Brian Sandoval’s New Energy Industry Task Force are likely to be suggested as legislation next year.

“We had seen a real rise in interest when it comes to these issues,” said Annette Magnus, executive director of the Institute for a Progressive Nevada, which is affiliated with Battle Born Progress.

That in part was the impetus, Magnus said, for forming a campaign that provided information and pushed for clean energy policies. Although the group comprises several progressive groups, Magnus said the goal is to form a bipartisan effort. With prices for renewables dropping and more states seeing economic opportunities around building clean energy industries, the technology has received more support from both political parties, especially in regions where economies are not tied to coal or oil.

RenewNV’s six additional partners include Vote Solar, the Small Business Majority, Chispa Nevada, the Uplift Foundation of Nevada, the Las Vegas Urban League and the Clean Energy Project. The group has yet to take specific policy positions but is instead advocating for renewables more broadly.

The Institute for a Progressive Nevada is funding the website.

Andy Maggi, director of the Nevada Conservation League Education Fund, said the coalition is planning to host events, make phone calls and table at events to talk about renewable energy. “There’s not one tactic we will be focused on,” he said. “It’s about talking to as many people as we can.”

In recent months, multiple polls have shown broad support for renewable energy, including one commissioned by RenewNV and conducted by Global Strategy Group in May. Of 750 Nevadans surveyed at the end of July, a majority said they supported restoring more favorable rooftop solar rates and deregulating the state’s electricity market, according to KTNV Channel 13/Rasmussen Reports.

“Although Nevada has become a national clean energy leader, our state has a lot of work to do to maintain momentum in addressing our state’s energy needs and the energy needs of surrounding states,” Jennifer Taylor, executive director of the Clean Energy Project said in a statement.

RenewNV is likely to push back hard against a regulatory decision last fall to increase bills for rooftop solar customers. In December, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada increased fees and decreased incentives for these customers, a move they argued would protect the majority of non-solar ratepayers.

The controversial new rate structure, phased in over 12 years, prompted national rooftop solar providers Sunrun and SolarCity to cease operations in the state and lay off hundreds of workers. RenewNV, on its website, includes reforming the commission as one of its main issues.

Vote Solar, one of RenewNV’s partners, has been part of a lawsuit challenging the PUC decision.

“(The decision) was a real setback to the state’s effort to transition from dirty fossil fuels to 21st-century energy sources,” Jessica Scott, regional director for Vote Solar, said in the media release that announced the RenewNV effort. “Voters want to reverse that bait-and-switch, and return to the kind of growth and energy independence that solar offered Nevadans a few short months ago.”