GREEN LIGHT: NV Energy executives see ecofriendly future - Business

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Jul. 01, 2009
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GREEN LIGHT: NV Energy executives see ecofriendly future

Company files three-year plan with Nevada Public Utilities Commission

By JENNIFER ROBISON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

Renewable Energy

From left, NV Energy Senior Vice President Roberto Denis, President and CEO Michael Yackira and Vice President Tom Fair address Review-Journal reporters and editors Tuesday about renewable energy.
Photo by Duane Prokop.

NV Energy's latest action plan for new power capacity will rely almost solely on ecofriendly measures, executives for the power utility said in a meeting Tuesday with Review-Journal editors and reporters.

When NV Energy files its three-year integrated resource plan with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission today, its proposal will feature $500 million for a green-energy transmission line, $325 million for efficiency and conservation and $100 million for solar-power arrays. But it won't include any requests for funds to build projects that generate power from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

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It's the first midrange agenda without carbon-fueled capital improvements since 2003, when NV Energy launched an aggressive initiative to buy and develop its own generating stations in Nevada. NV Energy spent $1.5 billion in recent years acquiring and building power stations so the company could avoid the whims of pricey wholesale markets. The strategy means the company will get 77 percent of its power through its own plants in 2009, up from 39 percent in 2005.

Michael Yackira, NV Energy's chief executive officer, said he didn't see any need for new fossil fuel-fired plants or additions before 2015.

"We have made great inroads making Nevada energy independent," Yackira said. "Now, we're going to be looking for ways to reduce (power) use in a cost-effective way."

So the company will refine its green portfolio in a series of expenses it will look to recover in future general rate cases.

The integrated resource plan NV Energy will file with the Public Utilities Commission will include $500 million for the One Nevada Transmission Line, or ONLine, a 235-mile network that could link Southern Nevada to an initial 600 megawatts of renewable energy generated in Northern Nevada. The transmission line, which should have an eventual carrying capacity of 2,000 megawatts, would also connect NV Energy's subsidiaries in Reno and Las Vegas for improved operating efficiency statewide.

ONLine would also make for competitive prices on solar power in Southern Nevada because it would bring geothermal energy from the north to the Las Vegas Valley to compete for electricity-generation share.

The resource plan also reserves $325 million for efforts to boost energy efficiency and conservation. Those funds will cover energy audits and rebates for small-scale residential photovoltaic systems, compact fluorescent light bulbs and other green technologies.

Consumers might balk at the notion that they'll lower their power bills through conservation, only to see the electric utility seek higher rates later to subsidize ecoconscious measures.

But Yackira pointed to big long-term savings from conservation initiatives.

Efficiency efforts cost less than 5 cents per kilowatt hour, while purchasing or producing power costs 12 cents per kilowatt hour. So swapping out fresh power purchases for conservation should yield savings of 7 cents per kilowatt hour for consumers.

NV Energy will also reveal plans to spend $100 million building photovoltaic plants to capture solar power.

Three plants in Southern Nevada will provide 56 megawatts of solar power. It should take four to five months to build the plants once state officials approve the proposals.

The final significant chunk of money in the integrated resource plan is $85 million for assorted transmission projects.

NV Energy, which just wrapped up a general rate case that yielded a 6.9 percent increase in the average consumer's power bill, must file an integrated resource plan every three years. The filing provides a shorter-term action plan on a 20-year strategy.

Yackira said the utility will seek to recover some of the costs of the projects included in today's filing, but he said it's too early to determine how much of those expenses might appear in the next general rate case. That rate case is scheduled to be heard in 2012.

The 2012 case is also likely to include some of the capital improvements and expenses the Public Utilities Commission disallowed in the most recent rate case, Yackira said.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.

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Please enter your name Name: Please enter your email Email: Please enter a comment COMMENTS : (word count limit is 300) You have reached the maximum number of words allowed Current Word Count: Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background. joe wrote on July 01, 2009 10:52 AM: Voodoo math and verbal mumbo jumbo. We'll pay higher rates but we'll save in the long run because blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! This should be made into an episode of South Park. David wrote on July 01, 2009 10:44 AM: KEY PHRASE "So the company will refine its green portfolio in a series of expenses it will seek to recover in future general rate cases"! Its green protfolio that they intend to through money at in a mindless manner will not be energy efficient or even energy nuetral. But what do brainless schumcks like Yackira care they intend to shove down southern nevada's throat like it or not. Reminds me of Ethanol? Brilliant please can I have another. Ben Sampson wrote on July 01, 2009 10:43 AM: Hopefully in FIVE years or less there will be zero need for NV Energy to exist. That should be the goal! Been raped enough by these utility companies. RANDY wrote on July 01, 2009 09:47 AM: LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT... THE PLAN IS TO BUILD GREEN ENERGY POWER PLANTS THAT WILL ONLY SUPPLY 77 PER CENT OF FUTURE ENERGY NEEDS AND THE REST WILL BE DONE BY RAISING ENERGY RATES TO CURB CONSUMPTION? THEIR MATH IS VERY FUZZY. IF THE ENVIRONMENTAL RULES MAKES FOSSIL FUEL POWERED PLANTS MORE EXPENSIVE, WE ARE JUST MAKING ELECTRICITY MORE COSTLY FOR NO REASON. MAN MADE GLOBAL WARMING IS A LIE. OUR LEADERS ARE MAKING DECISIONS BASED ON JUNK SCIENCE. Barry Soreoto wrote on July 01, 2009 08:19 AM: Southern Nevada can take advantage of the clear skies and powerful sun offered by the desert. But solar energy is very expensive. Solar cells do not grow on trees and their manufacture emits toxic pollutants. Someday, solar energy may develop to the point it is competitive. Let's wait until then to jump whole-hog into it. Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 01, 2009 08:17 AM: "Obama goes after Thomas Edison". Not Thomas Edison! Nice appeal to sentiment in that headline, but ridiculously illogical. If the Las Vegas Republicon-Journal had its way, our televisions would still be driven by tubes. Barry Soreoto wrote on July 01, 2009 08:16 AM: This green energy won't cost Nevada Power a cent. The customers will pay for all costs. ths wrote on July 01, 2009 08:02 AM: Look at what the esculating costs of a coal power plant was going to be. Several billion dollars for 1500 megawatts of power generation. So for $100 million to do 56 megawatts that then have less long term operating costs then the coal plant I think it is a good investment. Most extra power that is needed today is to support the peek power needs. Guess when that happens, when the sun is shining the most. The other advantage of the solar collection is if the sun is shining it is generating. Coal power plants take time to increase the power and lower the power so often coal plants are generating more power then needed. The natural gas turbine engine generators are easier to regulate and take minimal amount of time to do this. So John, before you speak perhaps you should look at the construction costs and long term operational costs of other power plants. Solar is quickly coming down in costs, and with multiple rebates from the power company to the federal government they are becoming better investments every year for the personal homeowner. Free Nevada wrote on July 01, 2009 07:23 AM: "GREEN LIGHT: NV Energy executives see ecofriendly future" They see "green" all right. Do you know how high our electric bills will get to pay for a "$500 million for a green-energy transmission line" just to make "Nevada energy independent"? There's no army on the borders looking to rush us. Competitive market pressure and federal oversight to prevent an Enron repeat are all that's needed to power-up our tiny population. John wrote on July 01, 2009 06:50 AM: What a joke! 56 megawatts? Wow, that might power one neighborhood. "We'll jack up the rates so people can't afford it. They'll be forced to conserve!" Life will be green! And who wants a stupid solar collector on their roof? And who will maintain it? And wire it? And when the sun's not shining? A green transmission line huh? Did anyone tell these folks that all electrons come in one color, and they're not green? Read All Comments