County approves two power plants near state line

Thursday, June 21, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.

Reliant Energy of Houston got a qualified approval from Clark County Commissioners on Wednesday to build two power plants near the California state line.

Reliant plans to build a 310-megawatt "peaking facility" to produce power during summer months and a 575-megawatt plant for year-round power. One megawatt is enough power for about 500,000 homes in Southern Nevada during the summer.

The generating complex, dubbed Reliant Bighorn, would be near Primm and Interstate 15.

It also would be a few miles from the Ivanpah Valley Airport planned by the Clark County Aviation Department, which raised some questions during the commission meeting. The county's approval of industrial zoning for 60 acres in the desert is conditional upon a ruling that air pollution emissions from the generating station will not preclude construction of the airport.

Clark County Aviation Department officials hope to have the airport operating by 2010 or 2011, and to move more than 30 million passengers a year through the facility by 2035.

Those officials view the Ivanpah airport as critically important to providing an air transport alternative to fast-growing McCarran International Airport, which is expected to reach its annual capacity of 55 million about the same time the new airport opens.

A restriction of the amount of pollution that could go into the air from the Ivanpah airport could put a monkey wrench into the Aviation Department's plans.

The Clark County Health District, which must approve the emission plans for both the power plants and the airport, received the Reliant application in March and is now evaluating the proposal for conformity with local, state and federal regulations -- and for its impact on the planned airport.

Debbie Millet, Aviation Department spokeswoman, said her department is confident that the Health District's Air Quality Division will ensure that the Ivanpah airport can go forward.

Mike Alvarado, Reliant's project developer, said the emissions from the plants will not affect the planned airport.

The gas-fired plants use state-of-the-art technology to reduce emissions, he said.

"We've done the analysis," Alvarado said.

The peaking facility will produce power by June 2002, in time to provide power for the hundreds of thousands of air conditioners fired up during the hot season, he said. The year-round plant should come on line a year later.

The plants will be "merchants," selling power on the open market. But Alvarado said the company is in negotiations with the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Nevada Power now, and expects to sell all the electricity in the local market.

Nevada Power officials say about half of the power used in Southern Nevada is imported during summer months.

Commissioner Erin Kenny, in her support of the plant, said satisfying local power needs is key.

"I think we need to move forward on delivering power to residents," she said.

Power shortages have swept the West this year, especially in California, which has suffered through sporadic blackouts over the last six months. Nevada Power officials have said blackouts are unlikely in Nevada this summer, but haven't ruled out the possibility here.

A shortage of generating plants has been cited by energy wholesalers such as Reliant as a key reason for the shortages and skyrocketing power prices throughout the West. Californians this year are expected to pay 10 times what they paid for electricity two years ago.

Some critics have charged the wholesalers with manipulating the markets to drive up prices, a charge the power companies emphatically deny.

But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, responding to the high prices, on Monday put a price ceiling on wholesale electricity rates across 11 western states, including California and Nevada.

The planned Reliant complex also affects another commodity in short supply in the West -- water.

Alvarado said the plant will use 250 acre-feet of water annually, or about 81 million gallons of water. One acre-foot is about enough water for a family for one year.

Alvarado said the complex will not affect water supplies, however, because it will recycle "grey water," or partially treated effluent water, from nearby casinos.

The commission approved the complex with a 4-0 vote. The health district staff is expected to finish its analysis of the emissions from the proposed plants within the next several weeks.

Reliant officials said they will break ground on the project in September.

Reliant already co-owns a 480-megawatt plant operating near Boulder City, and plans another merchant plant about 20 miles northeast of Las Vegas on former landfill. The company plans to have that 500-megawatt plant operating by June 2003.