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Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009 | 3:23 p.m.
Tonopah
News release
A California-based solar energy developer announced today that power from a planned solar array will be sold to NV Energy.
SolarReserve is in the early stages of Bureau of Land Management environmental review for a planned 100 megawatt solar thermal power plant near Tonopah. The plant would produce enough power to run up to 75,000 homes during the highest demand period.
The plant, called the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project after the nearby recreation area, will be the first solar thermal plant in Nevada to employ heat storage technology that would allow the plant’s steam turbines to run after the sun has set. The plant is in a race to be the first in the nation with this technology. Its main competitor is the Solana-plant, a 280-megawatt solar thermal project planned by Abengoa Solar and Arizona Power Service near Gila Bend, Ariz.
Both projects are slated for completion in 2013.
The Crescent Dunes project would cover about 3,000 acres with hundreds of heliostats — think mirrors arranged like flower petals — which would concentrate the sun’s rays onto a 600-foot-tall tower which heats liquefied salt to create steam and turn a turbine. Some of the heated salt can be rerouted to an insulated storage tank where it can be kept hot until it is needed for the steam turbine after dark.
The project is still in the scoping process, for which public comment closes Thursday. Once the scoping is done, an environmental impact statement will be prepared, which the public can also comment on. Eventually BLM will decide whether or not to allow the plant to be built.
NV Energy has agreed to purchase the power at an undisclosed rate for the next 25 years. The agreement can’t be finalized without Public Utilities Commission approval. A request for approval will be included in the company’s Feb. 1, 2010 integrated resource filing.
Sounds like a win-win situation. Alternative energy, and new jobs for the surrounding area. If rate hikes went to help pay for alternative energy projects like this, I wouldn't mind so much since we'd help stave-off future rate hikes due to fluctuation in the energy market. Not to mention a lesser dependance on fossil fuels, and not having to fund our enemies.
The only question I have about this is does NV Energy get the plant and the technology behind it outright? In other words is this going to be a straight purchase where they can use the technology to build other plants and generate power more cheaply by allowing NV Energy the ability to construct plants themselves at a cheaper cost?
Or will NV Energy get the plant, and then end up having to license the technology and have to pay royalties from here on out?
Neither, I think. NV Energy is merely agreeing to purchase the power output from this solar company, plain and simple. There is no purchase of intellectual property here, no purchase of infrastructure. Simply the purchase of energy produced. The question for Nevada then becomes, what was the agreed-upon price? I suspect some sort of complicated formula was employed, all we the people would need to know would be the likely bottom line from year to year. Unquestionably solar power, at least right now, is significantly more expensive than other form from non-renewable sources like coal and natural gas.
Nevada should be rolling out thred carpet to this technology and providing incentives to any company who would like to develop their companies here. The problem is that Harry Reid and Monkey Gibbons are to stupid and so busy dealing with their own personal agendas to be looking after the interests of the state right now.. Bye Bye Losers, your going to be voted OUT next election..
I'm hard pressed to believe that NV Energy would not raise rates no matter what the circumstances. They are a monopoly with only one incentive - to make more money. I'm all in favor of alternative energies, but let us not engage in the illusion that it will save us money. It's not the efficiency of the energy that determines the cost; it's the greed of the owner. And this is Nevada, which is founded on greed.
What is the cost of this purchased energy? The feds have mandated that the consumer by at least 20% of their energy needs in the form of alternative energy WHATEVER the cost of this energy form is. The questions about rate increases are valid!
This is wrong about the "first" to use thermal storage--Solar Millennium Amargosa Valley Farm Road project is ahead and would use thermal storage.
And as for cost, has anyone thought of how NV Energy is going to get that Tonopah energy to Vegas? There are no transmission lines yet. Maybe they will hook into the Ely line. The only line up there goes to California. But if they build another powerline to sell energy to Vegas, you won't have anymore Christmas shopping money! Can you say 50 percent power rate increase?
NV Energy agrees to purchase Crescent Dunes Solar Power.
Let's put things into perspective, I think the gentleman is correct the NV Energy announcement is ONLY for the purchase of the actual power produced from the facility. The immediate FLAG here is their non-disclosure of the "price" they have agreed to pay for this power! I would think that the Nevada Public Utilities Commission would have some concern as to "how much" the REAL costs of this power was going to unfold to Nevada citizens? Coal, natural gas and nuclear average around .5 to .10 cents per KW wholesale. Some of the best German solar technology is striving to reach .22 cents per KW, how much will that bill out to our citizens?
Another memo below is correct solar will have a tendency to double your electrical power costs, are the casinos running any numbers on this? With all of those who joked about Ely building a nuclear plant maybe some should consider a calculator for Christmas. NV Energy is mostly riding with Senator Reid on the renewable wave which, when the ACTUAL numbers come in are going to become a tsunami.
NV Energy CEO stated on Nevada Newsmakers that NV Energy was not big enough to build a nuclear power plant. So, they are opting to continue "purchasing" energy from outside companies instead of "manufacturing" our own from within Nevada. Remember that they lost some 200 million on "outside" purchases from Enron? For nearly the past 30 years Nevada has been purchasing 50 to 60% of our energy out of state. Sources; natural gas-68%, coal-21%, hydro-6%, all renewables-4%. (We might want to note here that natural gas is subject to volatile price fluctuations). Nevada is 17th at the highest energy costs in the country.
The purchase of electricity by NV Energy from SolarReserve is the result of NV Energy's request for proposal (RFP) for interconnection of a renewable energy electrical generating facility. Basically presents a boilerplate power purchase agreement that SolarReserve filled in the amount they would accept for the electricity generated by the proposed facility. In these types of developments the generator is more interested in Renewable Energy Certificates and Federal Tax incentives. NV Energy is interested in getting electricity for the lowest possible price and had dozens of proposals to choose. I'd be surprised if they agreed to pay more than .05 cents a KWh for wholesale electricity. The developer/generator at Nellis AFB accepted .02 cents a KWh from the AFB. The developers are investing their own money with prospects of keeping development costs as low as possible and eventually paying their investors for their good faith.