Nevada Test Site being considered for Nevada's first wind farm

The Energy Department is turning to the nation's former atomic proving ground for potential sources of alternative power.

Instead of unleashing nuclear weapons across the desert sands of the Nevada Test Site, DOE officials want to harness natural energy from the wind and the sun into much-needed power for some of the nation's fastest-growing communities, including Las Vegas.

"We don't have to look too far back in time to remember long lines at the gas pumps," said Kevin Thornton, DOE's project manager. "Pollution, global warming, dependence on foreign fuel - all are issues that have led to the search for economically feasible sources of alternative energy."

Of late, the effects of deregulation have provided more motivation. In California, residents have experienced price spikes and power shortages after electricity deregulation. Ratepayers in San Diego, for example, reported a doubling and tripling of their bills.

Wholesale power costs also have been soaring, due in large part to skyrocketing prices for natural gas. The Northwest, heavily dependent on hydroelectric power, has been forced to import electricity from California and other states because of low water tables.

Sierra Pacific Power Co., a subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources in northern Nevada, announced Dec. 15 it plans to ask state regulators for another electricity rate hike, the fourth in the past few months.

The increases are an attempt to recoup at least some of the company's costs for energy needed to serve its 302,000 electricity customers as the state moves toward deregulation. Nevada Power Co., also a subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources, serves 581,415 customers in southern Nevada.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn has put deregulation on hold because of the rising electrical prices that followed deregulation in California. In February, the Legislature must decide whether to implement deregulation in the Silver State.

The need for alternative energy sources has never been more apparent, said Nancy Harkess, spokeswoman for the DOE's Las Vegas office, explaining the impetus behind plans at the Nevada Test Site for the state's first wind farm to bring an additional source of electricity to southern Nevada.

"As gas prices continue to go up and there are power shortages, alternative forms of power are more and more important," she said.

Dave McNeil, renewable energy projects manager for the Nevada Energy Office, refers to the energy crisis as a "great wake-up call" for the need to look for alternative, renewable forms of energy.

The state's current alternative energy sources include 14 geothermal plants in northern Nevada and natural gas-driven solar power found mostly in southern Nevada. While the geothermal plants have the capacity to generate 236 megawatts, solar power is generating a mere 200 kilowatts at its peak, said McNeil, who blames high start-up costs for the lack of solar power.

Kathy Carlson, the DOE's Nevada manager, sees the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the ideal spot for building wind farms and solar panels to put much-needed electricity on the grid.

The test site is now an environmental research park that serves as an outdoor laboratory for conducting research on the compatibility of the environment with energy technology.

"Alternative energy is one of our missions," Harkess said. "It's a perfect fit."

The proposed wind farm could bring energy to remote corners of the southern Nevada desert through more than 300 wind turbines at the test site.

The DOE projects that if the wind farm is completed, it could generate enough power to supply Pahrump, a community of about 25,000.

It would take about 325 turbines to put out a combined capacity of 260 megawatts needed to serve the town 50 miles west of Las Vegas.

An average family of four uses 1,100 kilowatt hours each month, said Sonya Headen, spokeswoman for Nevada Power Co.

A kilowatt hour is the rate at which electricity, measured in watts, is consumed. A megawatt equals 1,000 kilowatts or 1 million watts.

The wind farm could also translate into hundreds of jobs and more than $80 million to the southern Nevada economy over the next three to five years of initial construction, Harkess said.

Once complete, the wind farm would require a staff of as many as 30 to maintain over the next 35 years.

Three locations - Shoshone Mountain, Pahute Mesa and Skull Mountain - are under consideration for the wind-power development project.

Nevada falls just below the top 20 states in terms of wind potential, according to Christine Real De Azua, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association in Washington, D.C. Missouri is 20th with a potential 52 billion kilowatts, while Nevada could produce about 50 billion kilowatts in wind power.

Nevada and Sierra power companies can produce a combined 6,000 megawatts of power at peak.

California - where 90 percent of the nation's wind farms are located - ranks 17th in the nation in wind potential with 59 billion kilowatts. North Dakota, with 1,210 billion kilowatts, is No. 1, according to a study by Pacific Northwest Laboratories in 1991.

In 1998, Americans consumed 3,620 billion kilowatts. "That gives a sense of North Dakota's potential for wind power," Real De Azua said.

While start-up costs for alternative energy are always more expensive than traditional power sources such as hydroelectric, coal or petroleum, Harkess said the wind farm project won't come out of taxpayers' pockets.

Instead the proposed wind farm would be funded privately through the Nevada Test Site Development Corp. in conjunction with the Western Renewable Energy Network. The consortium also is made up of El Paso Merchant Energy Co., Duke Solar Energy, M&N Wind Power and the Siemens Corp. It would, however, receive tax breaks as incentives to build the wind farm, Harkess said.

"We are part of an effort to explore renewable energy strategies that could complement existing energy resources," said Kim Wallace, spokeswoman for El Paso Energy. "But I think it's pretty early in the process."

DOE officials are writing an environmental impact statement and recently hosted a public meeting in Pahrump that Harkess described as "one of the best attended meetings ever. It was very positive."

The next step is to get a green light from the American Indians who consider portions of the test site sacred grounds, Harkess said. But it will be several years before Nevadans turn on a light switch powered by the wind.

An analysis of plant and wildlife including endangered species also must be conducted.

"All the things have to fall in place before we can write the assessment," Harkess said, adding at the soonest work could begin is at the end of next year. "That's best case scenario."

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