Sun editorial:

One small step

Nevada Power heads in right direction with investment in geothermal plant

Friday, March 28, 2008 | 2:08 a.m.

It was welcome news Wednesday when Nevada Power Co. announced it was partnering with a Reno company to build a geothermal plant near Fallon.

The plant will generate up to 30 megawatts of clean energy at any given time, enough to continuously power about 22,000 homes.

State law requires that Nevada utilities obtain 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2015, and it is encouraging to see Nevada Power moving toward that goal.

Currently, Nevada utilities overwhelmingly burn coal and natural gas in generating about half of the state’s demand for electricity. They buy the rest from out-of-state energy producers. During Nevada’s peak hours of demand, from June to September, as many as 6,700 megawatts are required.

So 30 megawatts, by comparison, is tiny. Nevertheless, Nevada Power’s joint ownership agreement with Reno-based Ormat Technologies is important.

It is rare if not unprecedented for utilities to directly invest in a geothermal project. The practice has been for utilities to ultimately buy power from geothermal companies, but tell them they are on their own in getting their plants built.

Ormat Technologies has been around for decades and has developed an international reputation for expertise in geothermal energy, which produces steam from hot rocks and hot water below the Earth’s surface. The steam powers turbines that create electricity.

As a partner in the plant, Nevada Power will have more incentive to see it grow and there is lots of room for that.

The United States is the world’s leading producer of geothermal energy, and Nevada is the country’s leading producer. Even still, the potential has been barely tapped.

Nevada Power is preparing to invest at least $5 billion in a polluting coal-burning plant proposed for outside Ely in eastern Nevada. It says it must do this to ensure its future supply of affordable and reliable energy.

But coal is yesterday’s energy. We believe utilities’ plans for the future should be devoted to tomorrow’s energy renewables, including solar and geothermal, both of which have unlimited potential in Nevada.

Discussion: 1 comment so far…

By bospro1

3/30/08 at 5:32 a.m.

Suggest removal

Whay aren't we pursuing nuclear in conjunction with these other fuel sources. Why can't we put 8500 mw's of nuclear on the contaminated Test Site. Coal is king I do have to say. There are technologies out there today that can scrub and make it almost as clean as gas. Let's use this resource let's educate ourselves with better ways to burn coal. But we have it, so lets use it. There is over 300 years of coal just in the U.S. alone...
Have you noticed now how the hole Global Warming issue can't be proven. Isn't that interesting? What are you considered if you don't want to pollute but don't believe in global warming? If CO doesn't trap heat like it was thought then how can CO emissions cause global warming? Does the Earth have natural cycles? How can you prove the Earth is warming if you haven't had your temperature probe's in the same place for over 100 or 150 years?
Why is it that we can't build coal fired plant's when Nevada Power is within all their rights? They've filed the permits and secured resources. Wouldn't that be pretty communist to deny these people their rights. They are meeting their Enviromental Obligations commence building. Look at China, are they going to be enviromentally resoncible? Pumping way more un scrubbed waste than we could think about.
People you get something for the coal, yes that's what is making up most of the energy in your computer your staring at right now...