Nevada program will help fund solar, wind farm projects
Las Vegas Review-Journal --Nov. 27
Nov. 27--Two developers said Friday they are getting closer to beginning construction on separate alternate energy projects that will take advantage of a new state program.
Solargenix hopes to obtain financing by March and start construction of the
solar thermal plant, said Gary Bailey, a local executive with the company. The
facility will use troughs that reflect sunlight and heat on to a fluid-filled
pipe that will spin a turbine to generate power.
Bailey declined to specify the cost of the project but estimated it will be
12 to 18 months before the plant can start providing solar power to Nevada Power
Co.
Ely Wind is planned for the top of Eagan Mountain, which is 40 miles north of
Ely. The partnership has obtained financing from Babcock & Brown and
National Power for the $50 million to $60 million project, said Tim Carlson,
general partner of Ely Wind and owner of Carlson & Associates.
Carlson's partnership is collecting wind data to ascertain the best location
for the wind turbines. He expects the wind turbines to be completed by 2006.
The power will be sold to Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno, but Nevada Power
will get the renewable credits that can be used to comply with the state's
renewable portfolio standard. The state law requires the utilities to obtain an
increasing amount of renewable energy until it represents 15 percent of their
total power sales by 2013.
Nevada Power and Sierra signed contracts to buy renewable energy from several
companies, but some complained they couldn't obtain financing because of the
utilities' low, junk-bond level ratings and investor fears that the utilities
might file for bankruptcy and cancel power contracts.
Richard Burdette, energy adviser to Gov. Kenny Guinn, coordinated efforts to
establish a Temporary Renewable Energy Development program, to help resolve the
financial problems. The program calls for creation of a trust that Nevada Power
and Sierra Pacific would fund. The trust then would provide those funds to
owners of renewable power plants.
State officials believe the trust will provide some protection for green
power plant owners in case the utilities, which will be the main customer, were
to file for bankruptcy and have to cancel their power purchase contracts.
Ely Wind and Solargenix are seeking approval to participate in the trust
program, and the Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a prehearing
conference on Dec. 6 on their applications.
Ormat, which is owned by a similarly named Israeli company, is proceeding
with plans to build 22 more megawatts of generating capacity in the so-called
Steamboat Springs area south of Reno. It will supply the power to Sierra Pacific
Power, but it has not asked to participate in the trust program.
Powerlight, a company headquartered in Berkley, Calif., has entered a
contract to build a $22 million, 3.1-megawatt photovoltaic power plant for the
Las Vegas Valley Water District. Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly
into electricity. Under the arrangement, credits for the project will be sold to
Nevada Power for compliance with the renewable energy law if the Public
Utilities Commission approves the deal.
In another development, Clear Power Corp. of Calgary, Canada, is preparing to
set up solar power plant development operations in Las Vegas, said Jeff Brown, a
consultant to the company. Through a subsidiary to be called Kenetixx, the
company plans to develop a 500-megawatt wind farm on federal land in Southern
Nevada. It intends to complete the project by the end of 2005, he said.
Separately, Energy Nevada Partners of Carson City and Nordic Windpower of
Scotland and Sweden announced an agreement to establish Nordic's U.S. wind power
manufacturing plant in Northern Nevada. The agreement, however, is tentative.
It says that Nordic will start making wind turbines "as soon as a Nevada
wind energy project of sufficient size is committed to construction,"
according to the Nevada Appeal.
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