By JOHN G. EDWARDS

REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nevada Power Co. on Thursday announced that it added 75 kilowatts of so-called "green" or renewable power to its system with the addition of three solar panels at the Clark Generating Station.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., praised the project but criticized the Bush administration for seeking nuclear power as an alternative.

If the nation builds nuclear power plants as proposed by Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, "we replace one dangerous resource with another," Berkley said.

She complained about federal efforts to establish a disposal site for nuclear power plant waste at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Instead, she said: "Let them have our sun, have our wind, have our geothermal energy, and let's have Nevada become the center of the solution to this energy crisis."

Nevada Power spent $775,000 to build the photovoltaic panels that track the sun at the Clark Generating Station, which is located east of U.S. Highway 95 at Russell Road in Las Vegas.

The photovoltaic panels convert sunlight directly into enough electricity for 12 homes, said Donald "Pat" Shalmy, president of Nevada Power.

The utility contracted with Amonix of Torrance, Calif., to provide technology that concentrates the power of the sun, making electricity more efficiently with less of the expensive silicon.

By concentrating the sunlight, the panels generate 500 times the electricity that would come from a traditional panel of silicon mounted on a residence, said Vahan Garboushian, chief executive officer of Amonix. The patented system can generate electricity for 8 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to 30 to 60 cents a kilowatt hour for most conventional photovoltaic systems .

"That's why we believe this technology will bring solar power into the mainstream very soon," Garboushian said.

In a statement, Don Soderberg, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission, said, "Combining solar with traditional power is a major step forward."

Rebecca Wagner, energy adviser to Gov. Kenny Guinn, said she would like to see more solar power installations, regardless of whether they are customer- or utility-owned. She acknowledged that it was a relatively small project.

"You have to start somewhere," she said.

Nevada Power and affiliate Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno are building solar power installations at other company facilities as well. Sierra will install an 85-kilowatt renewable energy facility at its office. Nevada Power has three Southern Nevada locations with solar power panels.