Power companies look at green energy

Malcolm Hall

Friday, Dec. 28, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas and sister company Sierra Pacific Power of Reno have received proposals for more than 4,000 megawatts of "green energy" from companies that produce renewable power.

Most of that power would come from new generation projects.

Nevada Power said it received 19 proposals from 15 bidders offering to sell 1,845 megawatts of electricity and Sierra Pacific reported 30 proposals from 23 bidders with 2,449 megawatts of power to sell.

More than 3,000 megawatts contained in the proposals would be generated by wind power. Another 385 megawatts would be from solar power sources and 784 would be provided by geothermal and biomass facilities, said Steve Oldham, senior vice president of power supply for both companies.

"Our next step will be to analyze the bids and notify the bidders if their proposals have complied with the requirements of our request for proposals," he said. "By the end of February, we will submit our recommendations to the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and Bureau of Consumer Protection on which proposals would be accepted."

Oldham said the goal is to add "dependable renewable energy supplies to our portfolio and to keep prices for our customers as low as possible."

Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific solicited the bids in October as required by Senate Bill 372 passed during the 2001 Legislature, which requires them to gradually increase their use of renewable energy until it accounts for 15 percent of their portfolios by 2013.

According to projections, the proposals are three times what the state would need from renewable sources by 2013.

Nevada Consumer Advocate Tim Hay said the state in 2013 would need a load factor of roughly 8,600 megawatts, with about 1,275 megawatts generated from renewable resources. About two-thirds of that amount would be needed in Southern Nevada.

And while he had yet to see the bids, Hay said his office was a strong advocate during the legislative session of both the portfolio standards set by the law and other legislation that promotes renewable energy.

"Nevada has a unique combination of renewable resources, obviously abundant sun, wind and geothermal, which is located mainly in the north," he said. "Development of those resources can stabilize both the prices and availability of environmentally sound energy sources for our state."

Hay said he had spoken personally to one wind developer "with substantial resources" that looks like a viable candidate for the process.

Due to the number of responses to the request for proposals, Hay said there is a "good indication that the market is there."

The requests for proposals were issued Oct. 16, with an original due date of Nov. 5, but that deadline was extended until Nov. 30 to give renewable energy producers more time to prepare proposals.

Proposals to Nevada Power included 1,460 megawatts of wind generation, 264 megawatts of solar and 121 megawatts of geothermal and biomass energy.

Sierra Pacific received proposals for 1,665 megawatts of wind power, 121 megawatts of solar energy and 663 megawatts of geothermal/biomass.

"In general we are very happy with the level of response we received, both in diversity of resources and amounts of energy and the number of respondents," said Gary Aldax, a spokesman for both Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific.

The companies have prepared a draft form contract to be used in any negotiations for long-term contracts resulting from the proposals. The contract anticipates the delivery of firm energy and stipulates the projects will be built within the utilities' control areas.

But almost all of the green energy, at least in Southern Nevada, would have to come from power projects not yet constructed.

In August, MNS Wind Co., a joint venture between M&N Wind Power of La Jolla, Calif., and Atlanta-based Siemens Energy, announced plans to build 120 wind turbines on 664 acres 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas at the Nevada Test Site that would produce about 85 megawatts of electricity.

Two subsequent installations would include 325 wind turbines producing 260 megawatts of electricity, making it the second-largest wind farm in the country behind a 300-megawatt facility on the Oregon-Washington border.

In January, M&N Wind Power asked the Bureau of Land Management for permission to build a wind farm on 4,500 acres of BLM land in Sandy Valley that would provide 120 megawatts of electricity.

The proposal calls for 150 wind turbines atop 180-foot towers.

The Boulder City Council in April approved two plans that would bring solar energy facilities to a 3,000-acre energy zone about 14 miles southwest of the city in Eldorado Valley.

The city signed a 40-year lease with the Nevada Test Site Development Corp. giving the nonprofit company 320 acres at $1 a year to build the Green Energy Futures Park demonstration program, a renewable energy incubator.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, seven small solar systems currently exist in Clark County, ranging from a 2.7-kilowatt facility at Clark High School to four 20-kilowatt photovoltaic displays owned by Nevada Power.

The Federal Aviation Administration also has a 12.6-kilowatt display in Southern Nevada.

The DOE says a photovoltaic array with a collector area equal to the size of a football field in Southern Nevada would produce more than 1.2 million kilowatt-hours per year, enough to power 122 average homes.

Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific will post updates and periodic evaluations on the renewable process on their respective websites under articles regarding "issuance of renewable RFPs."

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