Las Vegas Sun

February 12, 2012

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SUN EDITORIAL:

Expand solar’s potential

Proposal to change Nevada’s energy portfolio should attract Legislature’s interest

Sunday, March 22, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

Big solar projects in Nevada are having an unfortunate side effect, that of limiting the incentive for creating thousands of smaller solar projects.

Utilities in Nevada are operating under a state law — one that we have supported — mandating that 20 percent of the power they furnish must come from renewable sources by 2020, with 5 percent coming from solar.

A problem is that the 5 percent requirement is easily met through a few big projects, such as the Nevada Solar One plant in Boulder City.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Alexandra Berzon, in a story in Monday’s paper, wrote why many people are seeking a more expansive approach to generating solar energy — big plants create numerous short-term construction jobs but few permanent jobs.

She talked with Danny Thompson, executive secretary-treasurer of the state AFL-CIO, who told her, “The whole idea originally was to create an industry.”

Thompson and Rose McKinney-James, a lobbyist for an alliance of 31 small solar industry developers, are pushing for new legislation requiring that 30 percent of the state’s power come from renewable energy by 2020, and that all of the 5 percent now required to come from any kind of solar instead come exclusively from smaller projects.

Included would be rooftop solar projects at homes and businesses — projects that would create hundreds, maybe thousands, of jobs and greatly boost consumption of solar energy. Though NV Energy offers incentives for these installations, critics say they are not sufficient for creating large demand.

A story in Sunday’s New York Times related that cities in California and a growing number of other states are successfully creating solar industries by making municipal loans available to homeowners for rooftop installations. The loans stay with the house if it sells, eliminating a showstopper for most homeowners — concern that they will not live in the house long enough to recoup their investment.

We believe the legislation supported by Thompson and McKinney-James has merit. If other states can find ways to boost rooftop solar, so can Nevada.

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