Thursday, July 27, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.
A resolution approved today by a coalition of scientists and academics supporting the creation of a renewable energy demonstration center near Boulder City may help Nevada attract clean power providers.
But it also represents a step backward for the Nevada Test Site Development Corporation's effort to fill Eldorado Valley with solar and wind power operations -- a project they began pursuing earlier this year.
Some energy officials waiting for an opportunity to enter Nevada's soon -to-be-deregulated power market were disappointed by the International Energy Foundation's focus on technology demonstration.
"The demonstration mode is past," said Gary Bailey, manager of Duke Solar's Nevada office. The barren dry lake bed in Eldorado Valley is "too good" for energy production to be wasted on a demonstration park.
"This has the potential to be the largest renewable energy park in the world if they wanted it to," Bailey said.
When the test site development firm first pitched the project to Boulder City officials in May the suggestion was the park would be geared exclusively toward power generation. Companies in the proposed park would have access to the power grid, enabling them to sell electricity to consumers as faraway as Arizona and Southern California.
But the resolution approved this morning advocates the creation of a "Green Energy Futures Park" in Boulder City intended to serve as "an educational showcase of world power solutions for the 21st Century (and) act as a focal point for the education of the masses."
NTSDC Vice President George Ormiston agreed that energy production is not a major part of the proposed demonstration center.
"The actual power generation there will be very limited," Ormiston said. "Everyone I talk to is excited about it. It think the trick is to get the land resolved and then talk publicly about how (it will be developed). You can't put the cart before the horse."
But he hinted with a wink that a "second phase" expected to focus on energy production could be next.
The NTSDC, which entered into a memorandum of understanding with Boulder City officials last month, is still negotiating the terms of a lease on 300 acres in Eldorado Valley.
No partners have joined the NTSDC in the proposed project. The nonprofit agency is faced with attracting participants after the lease agreement is struck.
Although 2,500 acres in the Eldorado Valley were designated by Boulder City as a "renewable technology park" in 1995 when the town purchased 66 square miles from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management the only company that has located in the valley is a gas-powered power plant -- opposed by more than 1,000 residents concerned with air pollution.
The owner of that plant, a partnership of Sempra and Reliant Energy known as El Dorado Energy, is now negotiating with Boulder City officials for a second gas-fired power plant.
The resolution was announced this morning at a press conference attended by Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro, NTSDC President and CEO Tim Carlson and Peter Catania, chairman of the International Energy Foundation.
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