Move Nevada to Unprecedented Energy Independence & National Leadership

By Bill Spratley

The 72-page Report to the 2003 Nevada State Legislature and to the Governor of the State of Nevada was issued on January 30, 2003 by the Nevada Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation Task Force (see .pdf download below). This effort begun on November 16, 2001 by Gov. Kenny Guinn (R) was staffed by the office of Nevada’s Chief Deputy Attorney General & Consumer Advocate Tim Hay and his representative on the 9-member Task Force, Bob Cooper, Senior Regulatory Analyst.

Task Force Chair Rose McKinney-James said the Report would "move Nevada to an unprecedented level of energy independence and national leadership."

In its description of Nevada’s solar resources, the report notes: “In December 2002, Sierra Pacific Resources announced that its two Nevada-based utilities have signed long-term contracts with Duke Solar Energy LLC to supply 50 megawatts of electricity generated by solar thermal power from a plant to be located in Eldorado Valley, near Boulder City, Nevada. Nevada Power Company contracted for approximately two-thirds of the power and Sierra Pacific Power Company contracted for approximately one-third.”

The Report’s 15 Recommendations (following a set of Findings) are part of 7 Mandates.

Task Force Mandates

In order to fully address each mandate it was given, the Task Force prioritized the mandates it would address in its first year. Mandates not fully addressed in the first year will be addressed in subsequent years. The Task Force heard 12 months of presentations from –and held conversations with—renewable energy and energy conservation stakeholders. The findings and recommendations are broken out by mandate. Here are the topic areas of the more detailed Mandates, Findings, Task Force Activities and Recommendations in the Executive Summary and Full report.

Mandate #1 – Advise the Nevada State Office of Energy in the development and periodic review of the Comprehensive State Energy Plan with regard to the use of renewable energy and the use of measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or which result in the more efficient use of energy.

Mandate #2 – Coordinate with State and Federal Government. This mandate coordinates the Task Force activities and programs with the activities and programs of the Nevada State Office of Energy, the Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and other federal, state and local offices and agencies that promote, fund, administer or operate activities and programs related to the use of renewable energy and the use of measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or which result in more efficient use of energy.

The Task Force also viewed this mandate as a directive to focus on incentives and other measures that would accelerate the development of Nevada’s renewable resources on federal land (87% of Nevada is public land, so most of Nevada’s renewable resources are under the jurisdiction of various federal entities) renewable energy resources on federal lands.

Mandate #3 – Education The Task Force’s third mandate is to educate persons and entities concerning renewable energy and measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or which result in the more efficient use of energy.

Mandate # 4 – Create Incentives for Investment. The Task Force’s fourth mandate is to create incentives for investment in—and the use of—renewable energy, and measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or
which result in more efficient use of energy.

Mandate #5 – Distribute Grants and other money to establish programs and projects that use renewable energy and measures which conserve or reduce the demand for energy or which result in more efficient use of energy.

Mandate #6 – Feasibility Studies. The Task Force’s sixth mandate is to conduct feasibility studies, including, without limitation, a feasibility study concerning an incentive fund, grants or other programs to enable or assist residential, small commercial and agricultural customers to reduce the costs of purchasing on-site generation systems, net metering systems and distributed generation systems that use renewable energy.

A study is being prepared for the Legislature by R. Keith Schwer and Mary Riddel, Center for Business and Economic Research University of Nevada, Las Vegas, funded by the Task Force as an economic study to report on the impact of renewable energy in Nevada.

Mandate #7 – Other. The Task Force has spent a considerable amount of time educating themselves on issues over and above their mandate including dockets before the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and legislation pending before the 2003 session of the Nevada State Legislature.

For more information, contact Bob Cooper at rccooper@ag.state.nv.us in the Nevada Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Consumer protection.