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Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 4:01 p.m.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may think NV Energy hasn't done enough in developing renewable energy, but the utility has met and exceeded mandates set by the Nevada Legislature.
In a television interview in Reno on Tuesday, Reid, D-Nev., said the state's biggest electric utility could do more to promote renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal projects.
NV Energy declined comment.
But the subsidiary companies Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power filed their annual reports with the state Public Utilities Commission on March 30 showing they exceeded their renewable energy standard obligations.
The 1997 Legislature set the targets for the two utilities, and last year 15 percent of their retail sales were required from renewable energy resources and 5 percent of that amount comes from solar resources.
For Nevada Power, which serves Southern Nevada, the utility had 16.7 percent of their retail sales come from renewable energy and 10 percent of that amount was generated by solar projects. Sierra Pacific reported 24.9 percent of its retail sales involved renewal resources. And 8.2 percent was solar generated.
This was the second year that Nevada Power and its sister Sierra Pacific have surpassed the goal set by the Legislature.
The report was submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission which said public comments could be submitted until April 25.
The PUC has set May 24 for a hearing on the plans by the two utilities to meet the goals in the future on solar, wind and water energy system projects.
In 2013, they must have 18 percent of their sales from alternative energy. In 2015, the mandate is 20 percent. It rises to 22 percent in 2020 and then to 25 percent in 2025. The solar obligation is 6 percent by 2016.
By exceeding their goal this year, the two utilities will be able to use those extra kilowatts in future years to meet the targets.
Douglas Brooks, counsel for NV Energy, said in the annual report that the utility has received approval from the PUC to buy power from First Solar at Primm in southern Clark County. It will be among the country's largest solar producing facilities.
Brooks, in his report to the PUC, said, "Nevada's first major wind project begins commercial operation later this year." That is located in eastern Nevada near Ely.
In addition, two other renewable energy projects are nearing completion — Hot Sulphur Springs II, a geothermal facility in Northern Nevada and CC Landfill in Clark County to burn garbage to generate energy.
Reid said, "I don't think NV Energy has done enough to allow renewable energy to thrive."
The report said, "Sierra Pacific is currently well-positioned to meet the renewal energy standard obligation in the next several years." It has a large amount of geothermal energy to draw from.
In the future, NV Energy will be required to keep a close eye on each development project and their likelihood to succeed.
Excuse me, Senator Senile, but your foot is in your mouth again and you're getting drool all over it.
Please use the drool cup the taxpayers provide you with and get back on your meds.
You know how delusional you get these days over "renewable energy' which you have none of...
can anyone state what the cost of the kilowatt hour for electricity is from these renewable sources?
Many countries, states and even city governments are using the Feed-In-Tariff to spur renewable development and create jobs. Every effort to do this has been thwarted by the lobbying efforts of NV Energy. Follow the history of AB184. Dig a little deeper...Just sayin'
The only reason Harry Reid said that NV Energy has not done enough is because he intends to profit from renewable energy projects. Harry Reid is the biggest proponent of renewable energy because he pass legislation over the 26 years that favor him and his family monetary. Reid has made riches living off renewable energy. Nevada itself should do more and get into the power business, lets not just leave it up to NV Energy, they have a poor track record of funding project to do not meet or exceed the needs of Nevada but use their failure for reason to increase rates. Nevada should be selling power to neighboring states and reducing rate for its own customers.
NV Energy is a company following SEC and various regulations and requirements. NV Energy has complied with all known requirements. Senator Reid on the other hand....
Exactly right - NV Energy could do a lot more.
Our utilities treat the state requirement for clean energy as a maximum that they can't exceed. It was intended as a minimum - the state should have AT LEAST this much clean energy on the grid!!
Wind energy is already competitive with dirty coal, and solar is already close.
But there are additional costs that all of us pay for dirty coal energy. Take a child to the emergency room with an asthma attack - that's a huge cost that many, many families pay every day!
We can close the Reid Gardner coal-burner up in Moapa and create a great opportunity to do more in energy efficiency and clean, renewable energy.
There are choices ad a lot of us are ready for clean choices.