Nevada’s biggest utility, NV Energy, quietly took a big step this week that could help repower the Western grid with affordable renewables. In a letter to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), NV Energy stated its intent to seek approval from the Nevada PUC to join the CAISO’s Energy Imbalance Market (EIM). The EIM will allow
NV Energy
NV Energy unveiled its new NVision Plan last week, a policy initiative that proposes shutting down coal plants and investing in new renewable energy and natural gas generation. On the surface, that sounds great – shuttering coal plants, reducing carbon emissions, increasing investment in renewable energy and creating jobs. All good things, right?
What does solar cost? Pricing on utility contracts is often opaque–and there are some good reasons for this (e.g. to promote competition). An exception to this is in Nevada, where there are legal requirements to reveal contracts. Our friends at Evolution Markets recently sent out an email that culled some publicly available data.
Ormat Technologies, Inc. announced this week that it has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with NV Energy, Inc. for the purchase 30 megawatts (MW) from the McGinness Hills Geothermal project, which is currently under construction.
The PPA is subject to various approvals including the approval of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and is projected to come on line in 2012.
When completed, the McGinness Hills project will increase the total output supplied from Ormat to NV Energy, Inc. to approximately 135 MWs, helping NV Energy to meet its renewable energy requirement. Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard legislation requires 15 percent of all electricity generated in the state to be derived from new renewable energy sources by the end of 2012.