The pro-nuclear guy who characterizes Nobel Prize winner Secretary Chu as "unscientific" shows the depth of his integrity and understanding.

But you don't need a Nobel Prize to understand what a dead end nuclear power is. Just look at what new plants around the world are costing. How's $.20+/kWh grab ya for wholesale power? Plants in Turkey and Finland to get a sense of just how high the prices can go: 50% to 70% higher than solar thermal power plants like Solana, now underway in Arizona. Oh, and by the way, when the solar plants get old, their energy price goes to about 2 cents per kWh and they have zero waste to dispose of. And they operate day and night just like the nukes, because they have energy storage built in.

As the solar power construction boom gets going in Nevada, everyone will benefit.

Have a look at www.aps.com/solana -- just next door in Arizona a solar power plant is being with energy storage so that it's as reliable as a gas-fired power plant for energy supply. Power when you want it 24/7. The technology is economical and proven.

Every time a solar power plant like Solana gets built, it delivers 10 times the jobs and 10 times the in-state revenues of a gas-fired power plant the same size, according to a 2006 study carried out by the Black & Veatch, one of the world's largest builders of conventional power plants.

We could use a few more plants like Solana and Nevada Solar One giving us stable electricity prices, making our state a more attractive place for businesses to come, and creating jobs right now. Let's get building.

Great story, excellent graphic! Thanks, it makes clear how big the shift has been.

Nuclear is a turkey. New construction nuclear power plants in Finland and Turkey prove it -- they're coming in at prices well above wind or solar. New coal is also a turkey: projected plant cost for the Ely projects roughly doubled from initial projections, just like planned coal plants across the country -- that's why so many are being cancelled. States that have coal power will be the least attractive new places for businesses to locate, because they'll have the most price volatility under carbon regimes. Nevada's looking good.

The sleeping giant in Nevada is Big Solar. Huge power projects are planned that would create jobs and tax revenues, and stabilize Nevada power prices. They'd sell power both locally and across the border into the giant California energy market. http://www.lasvegassun.com/photos/2008/j... from last year has a sketch of where projects are planned.

Senator Reid has done some amazing things for Nevada, maybe none bigger than his achievement getting the long-term solar tax policies in place. Last year he introduced legislation 10 times that would speed construction of planned solar power plants in Nevada; finally it passed when he made it part of the "bank bailout" bill.

As the solar plant construction gets rolling, and you have a job because of it, remember who to thank.

jfnance32,

What motivates you?

I care about our economy. I'd like to see tourism and the casinos come back. I'd like to see the guys who make their living raising cows in Nye County and selling milk to California do well. I'd like to see us all do better.

Opening Yucca would certainly slow down our tourist business and make the marketing problem for our farmers and ranchers one hell of a lot harder. Any balanced look at what it does to Nevada's economy says Harry Reid is right, and thank you President Obama for backing him up.

It's a free country, and you can spew all you like, but what makes you tick?

Sunlizard, I grew up on Edward Abbey and love the desert as much as anyone. But YOU haplessly use fossil fuels and electricity made from them, and you don't bother to think where they come from. And you throw stones at leaders who are trying to solve the basic problem.

We could power this whole COUNTRY using less than 10% of the BLM land in the great state of Nevada, day and night, using solar power. That would be less land than we have currently taken for coal mining -- and we could stop the mining forever. (Incidentally, if we took on a project like that it would bring about $3 trillion into Nevada, creating a construction and revenue boom vastly larger than the state has ever seen. Nobody in the state would ever have to pay state taxes again...) We could power Nevada with .05% or something like that.

Power projects like Nevada Solar One are the foundation of our future. They can compete on price with new fossil power plants and generate power day and night -- Arizona Public Service decided to build Solana, a project that will run day and night and fully replace a 280MW gas-fired power plant -- because they decided the electricity would be cheaper than gas-powered electricity.

The faster we build large renewable generation in Nevada, the faster we get off the fossil roller coaster and make the state a better climate for business investment.

And we can do it responsibly, without harming any areas of critical environmental concern, because the solar resource is so vast.

Best of all, building Big Solar creates vastly more jobs and in-state revenues. One of the world's biggest builders of power plants did a study in 2006 of power plants just like NVS1 and found that solar delivers FOUR TIMES THE CONSTRUCTION JOBS, TWICE the permanent jobs, and FOUR TIMES THE IN-STATE REVENUES of fossil power plants. (See http://www.nrel.gov/csp/pdfs/39291.pdf)

Rooftop solar is about a few wealthy folks getting breaks on their electric bill, getting kickbacks from all of us to subsidize them. It ain't ever going to replace a single conventional power plant. Building big power plants in the desert is about serving us all. In 20 years their price of electricity will drop to about 1 or 2 cents per kilowatt-hour, after the mortgage is paid, and they'll keep delivering that power for another 20 years. That's the kind of legacy I'd like to leave my kids.

Scot Rutledge is a hero in my book, trying to bring together the needs of our economy and preserving our lands.

Ahh, jfnance32, you have your "facts" backwards. Solar and wind power projects create many times more jobs than fossil power projects of the same capacity.

One of the world's biggest builders of coal power plants carried out a 2006 study of power plants exactly like Nevada Solar One. They found that these big solar projects create 4 times as many construction jobs, 2 times the permanent jobs, and 4 times the in-state revenues compared to fossil power plants of the same size. Read the report: http://www.nrel.gov/csp/pdfs/39291.pdf

There are endless similar reports on wind power projects, though the spread is narrower.

Building renewable energy projects is the #1 thing that Nevada can do to get the economy going again. There is a giant market next door that will buy as much as we can build. Let's get on it.

Ahh, jfnance32, there you go again, making stuff up and reacting to it.

Studies show that wind and solar power plants produce more construction jobs, operation jobs, and tax revenues than fossil fired plants of the same capacity -- especially for a state like Nevada which has no in-state fossil fuels to speak of.

Instead of shipping (untaxed) money out of state every year for fuel, money is spent (in state) on construction and maintenance of capital equipment.

The advantage is biggest in solar thermal power plants, which provide roughly 4x the construction jobs and 4x the in-state revenues of conventional power plants of the same capacity. One of the world's biggest builders of coal-fired power plants did a 2006 study for California which found this result; you can find the study here: http://www.nrel.gov/csp/pdfs/39291.pdf

Harry Reid is an economic hero for Nevada. He got us the solar tax incentives that are driving forward construction projects here.

Ensign and the Republicans are proving conclusively that their hate of labor unions is stronger than any sense of responsibility they have for the American economy.

Throwing a million Americans out of work because they're well-paid union members is a crime against working people, not anything to be proud of.

Herbert Hoover didn't have anything on this crowd.

Excellent editorial. Harry Reid is living proof that leadership matters. He's kept the doors open at BLM to developers who want to build clean energy projects in Nevada. Despite determined Republican opposition, he eliminated the uncertainty that's been blocking private investment in clean energy projects. A construction and jobs boom is coming to Nevada because of his work. JOBS BABY JOBS. Here in Nevada.

jfnance, your figures are misleading. The marginal cost of energy on summer days is within 30% of the price of what SolarOne's power output costs; sometimes it's higher. SolarOne's power displaces the highest cost power, as it only delivers during peak periods. It's misleading and irrelevant to compare it to average costs.

The next big solar plants being built will be the same cost or cheaper than the gas-fired generation they replace. Arizona Public Service picked their Solana project in an all-source RFP, not driven by mandates.

Nevada and Arizona share a key characteristic: the fastest growing portion of electricity use is summertime peak load. That's also the most expensive portion. And it's growing 2x faster than average load.

Putting in solar plants will have a stabilizing impact on our electricity prices. Coal plants are the wrong way to go; coal prices are showing tremendous volatility, with bigger increases than gas over the last year.