Sunny days ahead?

Saturday, Dec. 26, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.

SolarReserve, a California energy company, is planning to build a 100-megawatt solar thermal power plant near Tonopah, and on Tuesday it announced that NV Energy had agreed to buy power from the plant.

As Stephanie Tavares reported on the Las Vegas Sun’s Web site, the plant is designed to use heat storage technology that will allow its steam turbines to run at night.

The Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project is being vetted by the Bureau of Land Management. The company says it could break ground by 2011 and expects construction to last two years.

The deal with NV Energy, which calls for the utility to buy power from the plant for 25 years, will have to be approved by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, which is expected to review the proposal in February.

This is good news for the state. Renewable energy is a natural for Nevada. The state boasts abundant solar, wind and geothermal potential, but it has been slow to see any progress on the issue, particularly because of Gov. Jim Gibbons — who has been an advocate of coal-fired power plants.

Nevada has a burgeoning renewable energy industry, and state leaders should be doing all they can to encourage it. The state, which is in fierce competition for renewable projects with other Western states, may have an opportunity to take advantage of a situation that could push some solar companies out of California.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., introduced legislation this month that would ban development on 1.7 million acres of Mojave Desert in Southern California. That is a prime spot for solar power developers — more than two dozen projects have been proposed for the area in the last three years.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Tessera Solar, a Houston company, scrapped a plan to develop 5,000 acres in the desert because of Feinstein’s plans, and BrightSource Energy of California scrapped plans for the Mojave as well. BrightSource CEO John Woolard said the legislation “would push solar farms out of the state.”

Regardless of what happens in California, Nevada should be doing all it can to make this state the focus of the renewable energy industry.