Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Regulators again reject Moapa solar plant; Reid Gardner still set to close this month

Reid-Gardner Generating Plant

Leila Navidi

Reid Gardner Station, a coal fired power plant in Moapa, is shown on Friday, Dec. 7, 2007.

State regulators quashed NV Energy’s plans to build a 175-megawatt solar farm on the Moapa Band of Paiutes’ Indian Reservation on Wednesday, saying the company was trying to bypass state regulations critical to the project.

The decision, made by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, leaves NV Energy in a pinch as it plans to close parts of the Reid Gardner power plant this month and seek approval for a long-term emission reduction plan. It was also a setback for the Indian tribe, organized labor and environmentalists who said the $387 million project would produce much needed construction jobs for the Las Vegas area and lead to cleaner air.

The PUC’s decision is based off a state law that requires companies to put out a competitive bid on utility projects. NV Energy was trying to seek a waiver to avoid the competitive bidding process. But the PUC didn’t allow it.

It’s not uncommon for contracts in the public sector to skip a bidding process, but regulators said the project was too big to go without a bid.

PUC Chairwoman Alaina Burtenshaw said that the commission doesn’t oppose the solar project, only the attempt to avoid a public bid that includes other companies.

Dan Jacobsen, technical staff manager of the state Bureau of Consumer Protection, called the decision “a victory for ratepayers who should not pay more than necessary” for their power.

Jacobsen said the PUC wants the utility to consider other sources of energy that may be less costly.

NV Energy wanted solar company RES Americas to build the Moapa project.

The Moapa plant was part of a larger blueprint being drafted by the utility company for the past year.

As the state’s largest power provider, NV Energy is at the center of an overhaul passed by the Legislature that’s attempting to replace 800 megawatts of coal-generated energy with cleaner sources by 2019.

Moapa is one component in a short-term plan aiming to shut down three of Reid Gardner’s four power generators this year, purchase 496 megawatt capacity of natural gas production and build a small solar field at Nellis Air Force Base.

The PUC approved all the other components and will approve NV Energy’s Moapa plan if it chooses to do a public bid. NV Energy did receive a public bidding waiver for the solar plant at Nellis Air Force Base.

It’s the second time the PUC denied the Moapa plan since October. And the PUC ruling on Moapa could have derailed the whole package. The decision gives NV Energy the opportunity to scrap the whole package, but the company signaled Wednesday that it will not be knocked off course.

“We will retire Reid Gardner in December,” said NV Energy President and CEO Paul Caudill. “Regardless of the decision that’s the right thing to do for Southern Nevada.”

The shuttering of Reid Gardner, which will close completely in 2017, was a top priority for Nevada politicians and environmental activists. The possibility of seeing a solar plant in its place was a promising step in the right direction.

The Moapa solar plant promised to create more than 1,000 jobs while providing renewable energy on tribal land that spent more than five decades in close proximity to Reid Gardner emissions.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, one of the nation’s leading proponents of renewable energy projects, said in a media release the PUC’s decision was “frustrating.”

“Clean energy, especially solar, is Nevada's future. Closing the Reid Gardner coal plant is a critical step; however, we must take the next step and replace it with clean renewable energy that will power Nevada’s economy forward,” he said in the release.

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