Originally published November 15 2005
Need for renewable energy is evident in Nevada
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Nevada Power Inc. has asked for a $62 million increase in utility rates, and the climbing costs of fossil fuels are pushing state regulators to tap other sources, possibly geothermal and wind power.
Nevada lawmakers first required the state's big electric utility companies to use renewable energy in 1997, insisting that they get 1 percent of their total power from sources such as solar, geothermal or wind power by 2010.
Regulators, power-plant developers, consumer advocates and utility executives cite a series of well-documented problems that have stalled the process -- economics and Enron Corp. among them.
Despite the increase, utility executives and state analysts concluded that because of continued increases in natural gas prices Nevada Power's request was short by as much as $85 million.
"We are at a point where we can't put all of our eggs in one basket," Public Utilities Commission Chairman Donald Soderberg said of the need to diversify the energy landscape.
Statistics from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., indicate that the national average wholesale price utilities pay per kilowatt hour for wind power is between 3.5 cents and 5 cents.
That price excludes general rates, which cover administrative costs and those for building and maintaining transmission systems.
As international markets such as China and India increase demand on fossil fuels and environmental concerns limit exploration of additional natural gas resources, the price gap is expected to close between traditional electric generation and renewable energy.
"We would argue that the cost of renewables, no matter which form, is going to be more predictable because the cost is almost all capital," NREL spokesman George Douglas said.
In July, North Carolina-based Solargenix Energy LLC received more than $15 million in incentives from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development for its proposed solar energy power plant in Boulder City.
Tim Rubald, interim executive director of the Commission on Economic Development, said the Solargenix plant could be the first step in a booming Nevada industry.
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