NV Energy, developer want rejected green energy pacts reviewed

Ormat Technologies and NV Energy want a do-over.

The big geothermal developer and the local power utility filed separate requests late Friday asking the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada to reconsider a July 22 rejection of five NV Energy contracts to buy green power, saying the agency’s findings contained mistakes and sought evidence it hasn’t required in the past.

The commission found that NV Energy’s power-purchasing applications, equaling more than 100 megawatts, didn’t include enough evidence that the company needs them to meet Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard. State law says NV Energy must get 25 percent of its power from renewables by 2025.

Now, Ormat, a Reno-based geothermal developer that is building or has built more than a dozen power plants for NV Energy, is blasting the commission’s findings, saying in a rehearing request denial of a power-purchase agreement for electricity from its planned, 30-megawatt Dixie Meadows project in Churchill County "is unlawful, unreasonable and based on erroneous conclusions of law and mistaken facts."

The commission gave NV Energy 90 days to re-file the agreements with more supporting evidence. But Ormat officials said in their petition that Dixie Meadows might not "remain viable" if delayed.

The commission shot down Dixie Meadows partly because commissioners said they needed an environmental analysis of how much cooling water the plant would use. However, the generating station is air-cooled, Ormat executives said.

The company also took issue with the commission’s finding that Dixie Meadows couldn’t prove economic and environmental benefits. Ormat said the project will create as many as 200 jobs during construction and 10 permanent jobs, as well as $22 million in new tax revenue. And though Ormat said the commission has never required power developers or utilities to quantify greenhouse-gas emissions saved by a plant, the company could provide that data if asked in a rehearing.

Ormat also noted that commission staffers who researched the deals testified that Dixie Meadows would help NV Energy meet its nonsolar power-purchasing mandate at a competitive price, without risk of fuel-cost spikes.

The company took criticism from the commission in 2010 for submitting too few power-purchase agreements, given that only a third of the renewable projects it contracts with are completed on time, a third are never built, and some don’t produce according to expectations. Those hiccups could keep NV Energy from reaching its portfolio requirements, and fines could result.

So NV Energy developed an accounting method that considered potential project failures and under-performance. But the commission found the utility didn’t adequately explain some of its assumptions.

NV Energy has asked the commission to advise it on how to better determine its renewable portfolio standard needs. It also requested that the commission suspend its 90-day re-filing requirement while it reviews NV Energy’s rehearing petition.

The commission didn’t comment on the filings Monday.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@review journal.com or 702-380-4512.