Go with the wind

Monday, Sept. 1, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

While Nevada is making strides as a producer of solar energy and is a national leader in producing renewable energy from geothermal plants, it has a long way to go in developing its wind resources.

This was noted by former President Clinton during his appearance last week at the National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV.

“I still can’t believe I land out here and don’t see any windmills,” he said.

A welcome step toward adding wind power to the state’s energy portfolio, however, has been taken by the local electric utility, Nevada Power Co., and its counterpart in Reno, Sierra Pacific Power Co.

The utilities are offering rebates through their new WindGenerations program as incentives for property owners and managers of schools and other public buildings to supplement conventional power by installing wind turbines.

Nevada law requires that 20 percent of the state’s power must have a renewable source by 2015. The 2007 Nevada Legislature approved rebates for wind power to help ensure that utilities meet this requirement.

Already contributing to the mandate is the utilities’ legislatively approved SolarGenerations program, which produces 1.67 megawatts a year through rooftop solar systems on homes, small businesses and public buildings — all of which are eligible for rebates. The utilities hope the program will soon generate 3.76 megawatts a year. One megawatt can power about 800 households.

Property owners and managers must decide for themselves whether WindGenerations will work for them. The utilities will answer their questions at (866) 786-3823 and say they will have a Web site up by Monday. The window for applying to participate in the wind and solar programs opens Thursday.

We have long supported the 2015 deadline for increasing renewable energy production to 20 percent. We hope the utilities’ SolarGenerations, WindGenerations and HydroGenerations (for agricultural customers) programs are flooded with applications.