Solar energy projects OK’d

Jeffrey Libby

Wednesday, April 25, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

The Boulder City Council on Tuesday made a bid to capitalize on an energy market that has left Western consumers facing skyrocketing electric prices and has plunged California into darkness several times in recent months.

The council unanimously approved two plans that would bring extensive solar energy facilities -- to be used both commercially and for research -- to a 3,000 acre city-owned parcel in Eldorado Valley.

The 3,000-acre energy zone is about 14 miles southwest of city limits and within an 85,000-acre desert tortoise preserve.

"It has been a longtime goal of Boulder City to be an energy provider to the Western United States," City Manager John Sullard said, invoking the legacy of the Hoover Dam. "From an economic standpoint, this is the best time to realize solar energy in Eldorado Valley, given the market conditions."

In peak hours of electric usage, Sullard said, solar energy prices have become competitive on the open market with natural gas-generated energy.

The city signed a 40-year lease with Nevada Test Site Development Corp. that gives the nonprofit company 320 acres at $1 per year to build an international solar energy research and exhibition center.

Joe Brown, president of NTS Development Corp., said the solar park would "put Boulder City on the map" as a center of research and development for green energy resources.

NTS Development Corp. was formed four years ago to provide new jobs for displaced Test Site workers.

Sullard said the research center and park would function as an incubator that could produce advances in solar technology.

"We're in the production stage now with solar energy," Sullard said. "And there'll be a next generation of solar because once it gets competitive, there's always someone who will build a better mousetrap. And I do think we'll have an advantage. We'll have one of the largest solar energy-producing fields."

The city also voted to accept formal development proposals from commercial solar energy producers on another 2,118 available acres.

The city has already put aside 242 acres for natural gas-fired energy production and another 320 acres for solar energy panels. California-based Eldorado Energy runs both facilities.

Sullard estimated that 300 acres to 400 acres would be required for a commercial solar facility to generate 50 megawatts, enough electricity to power about 50,000 homes for one year.

Councilman Bryan Nix touted the chance for Boulder City to diversify its sources of available power, minimizing its dependence on any one.

Councilman Joe Hardy stressed that efforts to minimize run-off and sewer impacts from facilities built in the valley should be as green as the energy being produced.

"We should look at greenhouse solutions so we can truly have a greenhouse system down there," Hardy said.