Deal on energy standard reached

Kevin Rademacher

Wednesday, June 29, 2005 | 10:59 a.m.

Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas and several parties involved in a regulatory case involving the utility's failure to meet mandated levels of renewable energy usage in 2004 filed a stipulated agreement with the state Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday.

If the commission accepts the agreement, which also involves Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno, there would be no fines against the utilities for falling short of the renewable portfolio standard. The standard, which was enacted by the 2001 Legislature, requires Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power to get 15 percent of their peak power demand from renewable sources by 2013.

Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power also failed to meet their renewable portfolio mandate in 2003. The PUC granted the utilities a waiver from the mandate and any fines in that case, attributing the shortfall to the company's damaged financial rating, which made the development of renewable plants unmanageable.

The same reasoning is laid out in Tuesday's stipulation, which says that there was " not sufficient supply" of renewable energy availablefor the utilities for the utilities to meet the portfolio demands. The agreement also claims that it "is in the public interest" to waive any possible fines.

Signing off on the deal were the utilities, PUC staff, renewable energy developers and the state Bureau of Consumer Protection.

In the hearing, Fred Schmidt, an attorney for renewable developer Ormat, also emphasized that the agreement is not the end of the case.

"It's really only a partial stipulation," he said, adding that the agreement also calls for the utilities to file a compliance plan on August 1 spelling out how they plan to meet the portfolio standard in the future.

"They are going to file and there is going to be input from other parties," Schmidt said.

Nevada Power attorney Elizabeth Elliot said a workshop would be held by the utility in mid-July, giving the parties involved in the case the chance to review a draft of the compliance plan prior to its filing.

PUC Commissioner Carl Linvill presented the company with a list of key items that should be discussed in the plan, including input on why the companies' requests for proposals from renewable developers have produced little action.

"I am anxious to hear from the parties as to why the RFP process hasn't worked in the past," he said.