Electric utility relying on ecofriendly power, with no coal, natural gas in plans - Breaking News

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Jun. 30, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Electric utility relying on ecofriendly power, with no coal, natural gas in plans

By JENNIFER ROBISON
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL

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

When NV Energy files its three-year integrated resource plan with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission Wednesday, 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.

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But it won’t include any requests for funds to build projects that generate power from fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas.

It’s the first mid-range 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 anticipate 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.”

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. The 235-mile network 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, also would connect NV Energy’s subsidiaries in Reno and Las Vegas, for improved operating efficiencies statewide.

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

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 will 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 also will 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 Wednesday’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. GD wrote on June 30, 2009 11:17 PM: Michael Yackira is a lowlife dirtbag thieving scoundrel. NVEnergy is totally out of control. We will be lucky if our new rates are less than$600.00 / month for the average family. I am not sure I can afford this "GREEN ENERGY" for my family. Absolute total corruption in Nevada and these clowns at the elecrtic company. When does this nonsense stop ???? Free Nevada wrote on June 30, 2009 11:02 PM: Nevada can't afford the electric bill increase to pay for a "$500 million for a green-energy transmission line" whose only purpose is "energy independent Nevada." For cryin' out loud, do you think the surrounding states are going to march on us with tanks and troops or treat our tiny cities as anything other than valuable customers to compete for? Sherry wrote on June 30, 2009 10:30 PM: LOL. Green energy! Plus the additional cost of the "Cap and Trade" Congress soon will pass. Can you say $600 per month electric bills? LOL.... One way we will all save is by riding our bikes to work, and also getting tourists to bike around town....HMMMMM wonder if "Cap and Trade" will affect airline fuel costs or the costs of auto gasoline that brings tourists here...oh gee, just another INCONVIENT TRUTH.... well , ya all will reap what ya sowed with OBAMA, REID, BERKELY, et al... Todd wrote on June 30, 2009 09:53 PM: I love how these so called news reports never mention the additional costs associated with using so called eco friendly solar and wind plants. They not only increase the cost of producing electricity by a factor of ten they are unreliable i.e. darkness, no wind = no electricity... Not to mention the different environmental costs from producing such plants which I guarantee you will be hearing about in the next 10 years.... This is a corrupt company, Nevada Energy, money sucking ponzi scheme taking public money in the form of taxes and electric rate increases from the rest of us. Thanks "NV Energy" for screwing Nevadans!!! Tony wrote on June 30, 2009 09:22 PM: No growth = no more new power needs. Simple as that. By the time NVEnergy actually needs more power (2012, when they start to build new houses again), they can get geothermal from the north and solar for the summer load. davelv wrote on June 30, 2009 09:00 PM: My home already is one of the most efficient on the market with low E glass, CFLs, high R value insualtion, high SEER AC, etc. So what do I get out of what Nevada Power plans to do? 7 cent/kwhr electricity? I dont' think so. This plan does nothing to produce more power or to reduce long term costs for consumers. At some point more power plants will need to be built, and those will be at 30 cents/kwhr instead of 10 cents/kwhr. It only saves over the next few years, not over the long term. I don't get it. I don't think Nevada Power or the regulators do either. The only reason electricity is cheap in America today is because of power plants built 20-30 years ago. With inflation, the next generation of power plants obviously will cost more, and the longer they are delayed the higher the total cost. Better build now before the "Greens" outlaw all new power plants and expect rotating blackouts to be the new standard for the grid. A bunch of losers wrote on June 30, 2009 08:48 PM: If I hear another eco-damn-word from a greedy executive I am going to pooh-pooh on their NVE front lawn. John O wrote on June 30, 2009 08:16 PM: Ever since there was an "electric company" they have been passing costs for everything down to consumers. We have no choice but to take it. What are you going to do about it? Nothing. There is only one electric company. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. END THESE MONOPOLIES!!!!!!!!!