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Energy official: Nevada's future is in renewables

Transmission line viable without coal, regulator says




WASHINGTON -- Nevada can generate enough electricity from renewable sources to justify building a major transmission line without constructing any more coal-fired power plants, the federal government's chief electricity regulator said Thursday.

The development of wind, solar and geothermal sources coupled with the aggressive pursuit of energy efficiency in Las Vegas could allow the state to be powered entirely by Mother Nature within the next 15 to 20 years, said Jon Wellinghoff, a Nevadan who is acting chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.


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  • "In my opinion, there are sufficient renewables in the state of Nevada to power the entire state," Wellinghoff said during a reporter roundtable. The event was organized by the Platts Energy news organization.

    Wellinghoff's comments came as NV Energy, the state's major utility, announced early this week it was postponing the $5 billion Ely Energy Center, a proposed 1,500-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

    Instead of developing the Ely coal plant, NV Energy will invest in renewable power projects, energy efficiency programs and power plants that burn natural gas, Chief Executive Officer Michael Yackira said.

    At the same time, NV Energy said it will continue developing a 250-mile transmission line to connect Northern and Southern Nevada. The company said it expects to complete the line by 2012.

    "The north-south intertie could allow Nevada to be one of the first states that could be largely powered by renewable energy," said Wellinghoff, a utilities law specialist who earlier in his career was Nevada's first utility consumer advocate.

    Although advocates of the coal plant at one time argued the transmission segment could not be viable without the power facility, Wellinghoff said "there is no question" it can be done.

    In fact, he said afterward, the proposed NV Energy transmission line might end up being supplanted by the TransCanada Corp., which is planning a big electricity line from Montana to Lake Mead that is being advertised to deliver green energy to the Southwest.

    "It is certainly doable and it is already being shown in a business plan of a $50 billion company that is TransCanada," he said.

    Wellinghoff said he believes there will be no further coal plants built in Nevada, even as two independent power companies, LS Power and Sithe Global Power, continue to pursue coal projects in the state.

    "I think that day has passed," he said, due largely to the uncertainty over carbon pollution from coal.

    "Everybody right now is looking at what is going to happen with carbon," he said. "Until the Congress and the administration decide what to do with carbon, I don't think anyone is going to build any more coal because there is too much investor risk."

    Wellinghoff was confirmed by the Senate to the five-member FERC board in 2006, and reconfirmed to a full five-year term in 2007.

    President Barack Obama named him acting chairman last month, and there is widespread expectation he will be named full chairman. He has become known as an advocate of renewables and conservation on the board.

    Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault @stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.


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    Dave Brockes wrote on March 02, 2009 06:39 AM: There are many hugely potential Alternative Energy processes in R&D today; some like ours are nearly ready for introduction and distribution.
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    Jerry Mac wrote on February 13, 2009 07:20 PM: This is just nuts.

    Soon Harry Reid is going to dictate that we can only use one square of toilet paper per wipe.


    To Sherry the Schill wrote on February 13, 2009 04:06 PM: Sherry is obviously shilling for a book. I've seen the book -- it is sparse and without useful information. She should be ashamed of using this forum for her own personal gain.


    Rmoen wrote on February 13, 2009 03:55 PM: I research energy issues for www.energyplanusa.com. Jon Wellinghoff should know more than me, but I question his thinking that Nevada can run on wind, solar and geothermal energy. Solar and wind are intermittent so need to have backup--currently mostly natural gas. Geothermal will help provide base-load but its kind of crazy to think it will fill-in when the wind is not blowing and the sun not shining.


    hehateme wrote on February 13, 2009 03:10 PM: FED,
    there are only 7 ARTICLES in the U.S. Constitution.


    look at history wrote on February 13, 2009 02:10 PM: Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the Carter Administration?
    Anybody? Anything? No? Didn't think so.

    Bottom line - we've spent several hundred billion dollars in support of an agency ... the reason for which not one person who reads this can remember.

    Ready???????

    It was very simple and at the time everybody thought it very appropriate...

    The Department of Energy was instituted on August 4, 1977 - TO LESSEN OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.

    Hey, pretty efficient, huh?????

    And now its 31 years later, and the budget for this department is $24.2 billion per year. They have 16,000 federal employees and close to 100,000 contract employees.
    And look at the wonderful job they have done!

    Ah yes, good ole bureaucracy.

    And NOW we are going to turn the Banking System & the Auto Industry over to them?

    And we are going to take the word from someone from FERC that we can all live off of renewable energy?

    God Help Us!!!


    http://www.CleanTechies.com We need to scale clean technologies! wrote on February 13, 2009 12:12 PM: Interesting article. The benefits of renewable energy versus coal should be obvious: Obama just directed the Environmental Protection Agency to drop an appeal of a Bush administration mercury control plan for coal-fired power plants because of health hazards it would have implied.

    CleanTechies wrote an interesting article about this: http://blog.cleantechies.com/2009/02/11/mercury-rising-controls-next/


    Bighorn wrote on February 13, 2009 11:35 AM: We could save a lot of energy by using a feed in tarif rooftop solar system. It may take some tax breaks and even stimulus money. Enough to get people set up with roof top solar so they can actually sell unused energy back to the power company.

    Oh right, we don't want to do that. That would take money out of the pockets of big energy companies.


    Another Fed telling us what to do wrote on February 13, 2009 11:15 AM: Here we have another Fed with his head constructed of straw. Time for Nevada to rid itself of D.C. and become a Sovereign state under the 9th and 10th Articles of the Fed Constitution. Kick the Feds out, abolish the slave taxes we're forced to give them, and let's go on our own. We don't need Fed money or Feds running our lives. Nevada is a free state.


    Renewable Energy ... joke! wrote on February 13, 2009 11:12 AM: Viable renewable energy is 10 decades away from being a truly viable energy source, if ever. We don't have the technology to make renewable energy a viable project. All the government is doing is throwing more money down the probervial rat hole, to make some people rich without producing anything of value. Typical.


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