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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.
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