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Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
Catherine Cortez Masto
Ross Miller
Gov. Jim Gibbons
Sun Coverage
Sun archives
- State promoting small-scale urban solar development (6-11-2010)
- State reveals plan to step up solar energy development (6-4-2010)
- Solar manufacturer First Solar buying developer NextLight Renewable Power (4-28-2010)
- Amargosa Valley solar power plant plan clears another hurdle (3-22-2010)
- County OKs plans for solar power plant near Primm (3-18-2010)
- Expert: Climate change effort will take centuries (3-2-10)
- Amargosa Valley warms up to solar plan (1-21-2009)
- Storing the sun’s heat (12-31-2009)
- NV Energy agrees to purchase Crescent Dunes solar power (12-22-2009)
- Amargosa Valley solar plant to use less water (11-17-2009)
- Vision for desert solar power plant expands (9-23-2009)
Clean-energy advocates have conjured a vision of solar panels lining the rooftops of homes and businesses, powering Nevada with a plentiful and renewable source of energy. But, they say, it will remain nothing but a vision unless the 2011 Legislature requires power giant NV Energy to purchase this homemade electricity.
The state’s energy office says the deck will be stacked against any push for such widespread solar production because the only study of how much small-scale solar energy Nevada’s grid can handle is being conducted by NV Energy, which has opposed aggressive policies that favor rooftop solar power.
Meanwhile, a separate, independent study proposed by the state’s Energy Office was killed last week after lobbying by NV Energy.
The company argues that small-scale projects are not cost effective and require subsidies that other ratepayers must shoulder.
But consumer advocates say the utility’s opposition has more to do with the potential threat the projects pose to company profits. (Energy generated by the solar panels would be owned by the home or business and sold to NV Energy. If there are enough users, it will decrease the need for new power stations.)
“I don’t fault NV Energy. They have to do what’s good for the shareholders,” said Robin Reedy, Gov. Jim Gibbons’ chief of staff. “But good government should do what’s right for Nevadans. Usually, what’s good for shareholders is good for Nevadans. But not in this case.”
Representatives of NV Energy and the Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the power monopoly, say the company-led $200,000 study into so-called “distributed generation” will be accurate. A stakeholder group, including solar company advocates and consumer protection advocates, will monitor the study, which is due by the end of the year.
“We are the only ones who proposed a transparent process,” said Tony Sanchez, senior vice president at NV Energy. He said the study will be vetted in public hearings and likely conducted by the firm Navigant, which solar advocates say has a good reputation.
But critics complain this is all window dressing to distract from the company’s control of the study.
The independent study was killed last week by a vote of the state’s Board of Examiners. Secretary of State Ross Miller and Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto voted against the $236,000 contract, which would have been paid for entirely by stimulus funding. (Gibbons voted for it.)
Following the vote, Reedy complained that NV Energy “controls” the state. In an interview this week, she said Miller and Cortez Masto “were representing their future political interests” by supporting the influential NV Energy.
But Cortez Masto said having duplicative studies would overly tax NV Energy, which would have to participate in both studies. Miller called it “wasteful spending” and said it didn’t matter if it was state or federal money.
Both said they are confident that the NV Energy-led study will be unbiased.
Rose McKinney-James, legislative representative for the Solar Alliance, a group of small-scale solar companies, said during the last session there was a wide disparity in the costs and benefits of rooftop solar presented by Solar Alliance and NV Energy. They produced conflicting sets of data to lawmakers, she said.
“We need a credible study to inform the decisions that the next legislature will make about solar power, particularly solar generation,” she said. “Under ideal circumstances, some independent third-party group would conduct (the study.)”
But, she added, she was “hopeful” that the checks put in place by the utilities commission would “ensure the (NV Energy) study is objective and useful.”
Rebecca Wagner, of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, said she asked NV Energy to conduct the study to get reliable numbers on the state’s capacity, and the cost of rooftop solar.
She said regulators will ensure that NV Energy conducts the study appropriately, and said no matter the firm selected, NV Energy would have to be consulted.
“As the regulator, we will ensure that this study is conducted in the open,” she said. “If we come look at the draft and it doesn’t look right, we’ll tell them to go back to the drawing board.”
catherine cortez masto is a joke...
an absolute joke...
has she done a single thing about the hepatitis epidemic???
a single damn thing???
it just boggles my mind that she has a political future...
nevadans are not safe with her as attorney general...
not safe at all...
she does not deserve another office...
It certainly looks like another cozy relationship !! That IS transparent.
catherine cortez masto is a joke...
an absolute joke...
has she done a single thing about the hepatitis epidemic???
a single damn thing???
it just boggles my mind that she has a political future...
nevadans are not safe with her as attorney general...
not safe at all...
she does not deserve another office...
You are correct. Catherine Cortez Mastro has not served the residents of Nevada. Yes, she should be replaced, or Nevadans should return her to the office of Nevada Attorney General.
But, she added, she was "hopeful" that the checks put in place by the utilities commission would "ensure the (NV Energy) study is objective and useful."
Figures lie and liars figure.
One has only to glance at the pages of threads on the Sun from comments from NPRI and ilk to see how easily a fact can grow into factoid status and the sun becomes the moon.
For several decades now, the utility and connections have sold power from fossils for profits; do we really think their motive is now any different?
They are NOT in the energy conservation game. They have zero interest in any future where their profits are not maximized; they have STOCKHOLDERS to satisfy, not some 'energy angel'
Dressing up in a suit of energy conservation colors does not hide the truth; they want solar on rooftops like they want a hole in their bucket or competition from the one who has more power than they ever dreamed of and delivers it free daily.
Solar energy has been the reason NVEnergy profited.
Why in the world would they choose to hand over the juice to the competition?
Motive trumps means; if you want to see rooftop solar (practical, distributed engagement of free and distrubuted resource, on site, ready to perform multiple uses), then don't look at solar paradise (i.e. Southern Nevada) because the fossils bought the territory and the people have to pay!
Land of the free, my disconnected underfunded ripped off solar collector!
The rate differential reminds me of money changers in little foreign hamlets.
Sell a dollar for seventy-five cents; buy one back for two bucks.
We gave them subsidies for their power. Still do!
How come it is like pulling TEETH to enjoy a ray of reciprocity?
Could it be because their goal is our continued enslavement.
Simon LaGree, on solar distribution: "Our studies indicate..."
Now, about those money changers.
The other day I was reading about a guy a few years back who found 'em in the TEMPLE, doing their exchange thing.
And ya know what the guy up and did?
There could be some kind of public/NV Energy partnership on these units. The landowner gets a percentage of the revenue from the unit,for providing the space and insurance. MV Energy keeps ownership of the unit, provides maintenance and gets the remaining % of revenue. This still will require a subsidy, but it is a foundation for a system that can become viable is 20 years, or so. I wonder how far along we would be today if we had implemented something like this in 1990?
I tried to go solar but it's too expensive even for my 900 sq ft house. Plus the way NV Energy's policy currently reads, any extra power you generate that you don't use goes into their system and they don't have to buy it from you, they just get it for free.
There should be a program where NV Energy buys and installs the equipment, since they can get bulk rates, and then leases the equipment to the homeowner. Then your power bill would reflect the cost of the lease plus any power you use beyond what it generates. If you use less then it comes off the lease fee
"There should be a program where NV Energy buys and installs the equipment,..."
In a better world, they would.
In this world, you and I bought THEIR production and transmission investment; they just want ONLY to maximize profits on our investment in their continued fortunes!
In the eyes of NVEnergy, distributed (fair) energy rates in this SOLAR NUGGET is a death knell.
I'd fight decency and humanity tooth and nail too if my golden goose was on the block! Ordinary response of a greedy goof like me!
The greedy goofs and their golden goose - stockholders and their NVEnergy
WHEN will AG Mastos enforce our laws and INDICT KATE MARSHALL for diverting college savings trust funds to the millenium scholarship? We cannot afford to guarantee Ms. Marshall's reckless and illegal actions. GET HER OUT OF OFFICE.
God forbid they cut off a arm of the utility company so they can savvvvvvveeeee some energy. Afterall that's not what its all about is it? Its all about your PROFIT.It's time the fat cats went on a energy diet...I did.
This is just another example of the horrible politicians we have in Nevada. It comes up in every session and the NV Power lobyists always win and the public looses.
Despite the requirement that they utilize alternative energy NV Power has always been able to defeat any attempt to allow homeowners to participate in supplying it.
As a regulated utility they are guaranteed a return on any investment they make. Why would they let us supply the power to them when they could spend a billion or two building massive plants with a profit guaranteed by law?
The only answer is to elect honest people who don't take PAC or corporate money. Good luck with that.
Hey neighbor,
you and I are witnessing the harnessing of our wallets to hand the power of the sun to the richest cat in town, the one that sells the fossils for juice that now gets the devil of the climate elephant, the golden chariot, to pull the load and make the bank deposit with the speed of light! to do the once-'dirty' work of grampa fossil.
Oh gleeful coup!
We're vested; aren't you?
Water on both wings - the angel of NVEnergy at cher cervix!
I looked into solar and it was so expensive there was no way I could justify the expense. I have said many times if you took all the homes where I live and put solar on every roof top we could not only save money for the homeowners, but it would put a great deal of power into the system. What a dumb idea that was. Instead lets make NV Energy and the greedy oil companies richer at our expense. The President wants to go green he could pump those billions into solar on our homes and it would benefit everyone.
yeh i believe 'em
Solar power is not economically feasible, any push to "force" the power company into buying or building solar facilities will raise power rates guaranteed! Solar power is at best 12X more expensive than fossil fuel power production. If it costs them 12X more to produce and deliver those costs are going to be transferred to the customers. Check back in two or three years when the costs come down.
They're slammin our ham with juice from the dam.
They're skimming the till with juice from the hill.
They're making bank on gas in the tank.
And they're plannin on fun with light from the sun.
Bet on it Nevada!
Battle-born mean anything inside us anymore?
"The company argues that small-scale projects are not cost effective and require subsidies that other ratepayers must shoulder."
This says it all. Why should others pay more so solar advocates can "feel good".
"Natural gas is expensive beyond reason. Look at all those capital investments, up front! Nobody really believes it could ever replace our reliable coal delivery services. Get real!"
This instant, free and unregulated delivery of energy could circumvent the current (!) drain of monies into the utility coffers, because mostly the sun is a bit more UTILITARIAN than thy greedy, investor owned corporation, exporting gold just like a Canadian gold miner/digger.
Easy come, easy go.
Pay your bill, feel the chill.
Conquering intergalactic radiant transfer of nuke waves into light at night and cool in the heat invites us to find the better way and not cheat.
Say solar in Nevada schools and all you see is drools.
Nobody suckin it up; hangin with the fossil, fightin mother nature at every turn of the globe:
No solar water heaters; fossils get that chunk, although the sun woulda done it free
No PV for greatest gain during peak load - stockholder glee!
No conservation: no sharin the wealth. NVE says: "For ME!"
It's not like a placed-based education could be far off from the best path for our future here in Nevada.
"Good morning, my chosen few. Upon your shoulders today we are placing the fire of understanding of just exactly what treasure is YOUR heritage by birth. Stand at the window and squint!"
Those offensive, glaring, blaring rays are your friends!
Their cousins, the dusty driven breeze is out there whirling its dance to share the wealth and chill the hotheads.
textbook shenanigans are keeping our kids and us REALLY dumb. I. e:
food comes from the store, or drive-thru
power comes from the line and outlet
smart comes from outside
rain from sky
who am I to challenge the universe with mere questions, like why not?
Could we do any worse by our children if we just enlightened them about their present geography, economic base and resource allocation alongside an awareness of Catching Rays for Fun and Empire Development 101??
How to Hose 'em in the Desert, by NVE our text
This is akin to legislating that Apple buy and resell computers, MP3 devices and so on manufactured by hobbyists in mom and pop shops. Or requiring Ford to buy and resell cars made by Tesla, Shelby and competing small manufacturers.
Bad for investors? You bet. Destabilize the utility sector? You bet. Set a precedent for other businesses? Maybe. Will this lead to complete government take over of the utility industry beyond heavy regulation? Probably. If producers can't make a profit, will we let them go out of business? Of course not.
Probable result? Eventually... another money losing sector for the taxpayer to subsidize and another major industry for the state and local governments to mismanage, add to the rolls of government employee union abuses and hang around the necks of citizens like the contracts of indentured servants who once emigrated here to escape the dictatorial abuses of the kings of Europe and who fueled the founding of the country. The difference will be your children and theirs for generations to come will be indentured servants to the government in perpetuity instead of limited contracts that can be completed or bought out.
Eventually we will all work for or be dependent upon the government for our lives and livelihood if we continue this trend toward the nanny state and lack of self responsibility.
If you want to make your own electricity, pump water, gas or oil from your own well or other measures to increase your self sufficiency and independence, that's great. I encourage it. That's a good thing. But, to mandate that the taxpayer subsidize your personal desires by forcing them to buy your excess product is socialist in it's very nature and immoral. Not entirely unlike our current health care debacle.
By the way, I have been reloading my own ammunition for decades and I started building my own computers before Apple, and before Bill Gates was out of college. My wife makes the greatest Lumpia and is a talented seamstress after 30 years in the business. We're retired now and could use the additional income to finance these hobbies so we think the legislature ought to mandate that major ammo, computer and clothing manufacturers buy our products, and restaurants buy her Lumpia so we can afford to continue to be self sufficient or 'off the grid' as they say in our lifestyle.
Leaky ducts and antiquated equipment are such low-hanging biscuits and gravy on the NVE breakfast menu!
No wonder they don't WANT us to know!
First, we probably shouldn't have a monopoly on energy but we also shouldn't require NV energy to purchase homemade energy unless A) it is at market rate and b) they don't have to purchase the energy when it is not needed (non peak times).
The there's their friend the 300+ days of insolation, pulverizing the place with possibilities to profit, pullin the load and plowing the shares into futures and fun times, for the fortunate STOCKHOLDERS!
How can they claim satisfaction of public responsibility, carrying water on both shoulders and slammin our ham and billing us for a monthly cervix charge!
Reminds me of that other monopoly, Ma Bell, in 1983 headlines: Ma Bell Execs Doin Secs on our Dime and Their Leather Office Chairs! For minimum wage and benefit package, after 90 days!
The only reliable source of energy in nuclear. It takes less to power an entire city than any other source on earth. All these panels are going to waste in the near future because they don't last forever. A nuclear rod the size of your milk bottle has a half life of 500 years. These leftwing wackos have been telling everyone nothing but nonsense into you ears. This is nothing more than another money making scheme.
They got the monopoly on energy resources, trasmission and AWARENESS.
Ain't it cool, their two-legged stool?
Seems to working great for the stockholders, not us.
Good for bottom line; bad for sky, rain, earthly critters. Rapepayers.
Gadha's right.
And the nuke we need is available and online 24/7 with no maintenance required, no drillin, baby, no trading, capping or clean-up of slimy dollphins, just ACCEPTANCE.
What we don't need is another security risk piling up, glowing in dark, and tempting every Osama or earthquake between here and 21,000 generations of Gadhas to watch the PILE!
Vainglorious asynchronous shifter of poisons unthinkable but in the mind of a solitaire, a soul whose world is now for the game of it all! A Gadha.
It's not going to be easy to tell the fattest pig ever that perhaps dietary modifications and exercise routines might ease the landing.
Did you ever kiss a fat dog's ass?
We have our work cut out when in the collective consciousness, solar is a thing of the future, our schools are working and NVEnergy is doin the best they can to help us out of our troubles.
I see the usual anti-profit, anti-business know nothings are in evidence as usual.
I wonder where they get their jobs, income, retirement and benefits. Could it be from shareholder owned companies.
Let's kill all retirement plans, 401Ks, etc. that are invested in shareholder owned companies. Including the union and public employee pension programs. That might solve their problem.
Like banks holding back on tons of languishing and decaying properties, our local utility is wasting our money, trashing our planet and maximizing profits while we suffer from ignorance, outdated appliances and watching the sun set in their court, baking us out and promising that this abundant, free available resource will become their property sooner or later.
Do you you think a public defender has a chance against Goliath and his dream team?
Copper and zinc, noisy and hollow, BRASS
pissy and all black and white. Go big or stay home, conductor.
All or nothing doesn't work anymore.
Appeal to something besides tantrums; gain credibility.
"I wonder where they get their jobs, income, retirement and benefits. Could it be from ...
the sun
from our place and time of landing here
our talent
our recognition and appreciation of our blessings here and now
"I wonder where they get their jobs, income, retirement and benefits. Could it be from ..
a corporation driven by profit, capitalizing on ignorance and free enterprise to beggar neighbors and bargain for perpetual wealth streams
Simon LaGree of heat and air, the coolth nazi, lining them out into the streets, panting and salivating at the aroma of the French Onion Bisque and the sight of the chilled Avocado and Watercress in Cream
Hate to leave ya when i'm rollin but i gotta punch the clock.
LOL
air
Air,
So you believe capitalism leads to zero sum relationships?
Air evidently thinks the world owes him/her a living and that by virtue of being alive he/she is due without regard to risk, effort or investment.
I've lived in the southwest United States for the past decade, and it surprises me that we haven't done more to utilize the cleanest and most sustainable energy resource available here to power our homes, businesses, and vehicles.
Just as oil companies and auto manufacturers have lobbied for decades against alternative-fuel cars and trucks, traditional power companies will fight to the death to ensure that individuals and businesses struggle to become energy independent. Is there any doubt that many homeowners and business would install solar panels overnight if it was economically feasible?
Solar power is endless in its supply, entirely clean, and requires a minimal effort to be harnessed. Until corporations, lobbyists, and politicians stop standing in the way of progress just to maintain profits for companies benefiting off the status quo, we'll fail to progress as a people.
Solar power is bankrupting Spain, because they required energy companies to pay well above market rates for energy http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-06...
Newcomer, turns out corporations are standing in line for solar power hand outs...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNW_B8Ewg...
An interesting video on evolutionary biology. The implications are kind of funny. I guess you could say, if you believe the market economy results in zero sum transactions and if you prefer socialism over capitalism you still have a stone age mind... :P
hey brasso, fly over some time. Take a gander at what understanding, investing and effort can build WITHOUT yer stinkin fossils. LOL
Think mustaches, lattes, yogurt, ice cream and prime rib along with balloons of CH4 for A/C and TV! LMAO
And ephemeral energy capture and ultimate planetary rapture have absolutely NOTHING to do with you!
I built the REIT one stick at a time.
We'd tie a rope from the house to the barn in winter so in the blowing snow we could get there to milk our cow. We fed our little town. We grew to methane digesters and modified V8s makin juice for our little community.
We shared the tech at the state U.
Then Phillips Petroleum came by in late Augus when we were eating doves. When they knocked at dinner, we all just got plates and served 'em up like family. Well one guy chomped a breast with a shot in it and busted his tooth so we rang up ole Doc Walters who came out and fixed his molar before dessert.
Easy to 'splain. They want to give us $25 mill fer the mineral rights. They were cocksure the little black rocks that burn were a'hidin under our corral.
Well, we let 'em look an took 'em up on their offer. So after that, we built the nice places, invested half-smart and still feed our little town some.
Djever build a REIT, brass? Like cattle? Horses? Cold water on a hot day? Or are you just one of these pompous know-it-all types typing yer crap away cause there's nothing else to do?
People like the copper and zinc concoction who blast away unknowing and unthinking make this one stinky rag! LOL
Do those things in the bathroom, brass brain
Ephemeral energy reigns in the land of the free because of the homes of the brave!
Willing and able to venture where modern man can not go - into the rays of the sun, out of the realm of fossils and into the light of tomorrow's dawn.
In our hearts we know the way to go. Fossils erode, corrode and compound problems.
Ephemerals drive understanding; fossils, squandering.
Stupid is as stupid does, mr brass gong. gone wrong dong.
MOOO said the four-legged collector to the blades bright green and fresh in the morning sun.
Splat said the poop as it plopped on the ground and the farmer set it aside for fun.
Vroom said the motor as it burned up the stink and sent the flow of juice to the barn.
Squirt said the milker as it squeezed those cows for butter and cheese from the sun.
Easy, huh, telling children how sh*t works!
Maybe try doing something brassy.
It's more fun than speculation, but then there's not going to be the joy you get from screwing old ladies out of their savings.
Maybe just keep your day job and forget about life its own self.
You're too busy creating lies to find room in your blender for any of that truth stuff. Fabrications are so EASY!
So these 'corporate fossil merchants' HAVE IN PLACE an established route to supply their stockholders dividends and maybe the locals some juice too.
And nabbing the solar pig of Nevada would surely boost NVE's appeal on Wall Street, huh?
And they have IN PLACE one spectacular daily delivery system supplying TORTURE to these inhabitants! Ahha. Take that triple digit glare, suckuh.
A captive audience supplying subsidies for all sorts of investments so NVE can keep up the supply side, satisfy those hungry stockholders on the backs of - the RAPEPAYERS - us folks.
Those rays could power our stuff. The road is already paved. Science trumps stupid.
We are boiling frogs, lulled into phase change by the ribbits of the evening or new computer games.
Do ya really want to keep on being stupid when smart is a quantum leap from our mistaken assumption that we could plunder paradise forever with zero consequence, besides of course, our ostentatious vainglory and narcissistic entitlement to MORE ??!
And Mercedes, 9 bedroom 16 bath mansions with landing strips for the chopper and fixed wings while half the kids in your class eat rat poop pancakes and thank god there was somethin?
Whooo, do I sound pissed? Now why would that be?
All they want is our source because theirs stinks.
Watch how they worm their way with words and shrewd ads dressed up like family love and good times and we got your back, Nevada...but you know how it is.
They're an investor owned utility with FIDUCIARY responsibilities to MAXIMIZE their profits and who feeds this monster? Show me your neck. OMG They got you too.
Utility: usefulness
utilitarian: theory - the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
Investor owned utility: the greatest good for a few people by having everyone hand them money as the utility hoses the moiety for gold, pumps the planet into a seething, slimy beach with stinkin fish and dolphins that glow in the dark.
Investor-Owned Utilities drive the wild horses with choppity choppin helicopters into corrals, slaughter 'em fer glue and cat food profits.
Ephemeral energy whispers and canters the stallion across the open plain where the buffalo once reigned, but the sun and wind are still free to shine and blow in my home.
For awhile longer.
Federal legislation is hopefully in the works. None of the utilities want their monopolies jeopardized.
http://www.fitcoalition.com/news-and-eve...
http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index...
This is made sadder as we will probably be amongst the last to see any of the new electric cars hitting the market..
http://www.popsci.com/cars/gallery/2010-...
Ready made solar powered station & Solar energy carport structures
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/...
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/11-chargi...
http://us.sanyo.com/Environmental-Soluti...
"BOCU" (Banks, Oil, Cars, and Utilities) will all hold tight to the status quo....
We need to back these federal FIT laws before other countries leave us in the dust....