NV Energy’s plan to build solar, battery plants, more approved
The Public Utilities Commission approved NV Energy’s plans for keeping up with future energy demand.
The approval green lights NV Energy’s plan, called an approved Integrated Resource Plan, or IRP, to add 1,000 megawatts of solar power and 1,000 megawatts of battery storage in Nevada, as well as adding approximately 400 megawatts of natural-gas peaking units.
“We are proud to support economic growth and job creation in Nevada with these investments,” said NV Energy President and CEO Doug Cannon in a statement. “All while continuing to provide reliable energy services at a cost that is below the national average and is more than 50 percent cheaper than energy rates paid by residents of California.”
The PUCN approved all three proposed solar and battery powered plants, with two in Southern Nevada — Dry Lake East and Boulder Solar III — and one in Northern Nevada — Libra Solar.
The solar and battery plants will be through a Power Purchase Agreement, or PPA, when an energy generator or developer is given permission to build, maintain and operate on the power company’s land. Then, the company will purchase the power from the developer at a fixed rate.
The $573.3 million natural gas peaking units will replace the coal-powered plant in North Valmy, officially ridding Nevada of coal after its plans to retire in 2025. NV Energy says the natural-gas units are a “low-cost and reliable resource” for customers, and in the future, the plant will be able to use hydrogen.
The peaking units are power generation plants, running on natural gas, and designed to operate only during periods of high electricity demand in Northern Nevada and do not run constantly.
Environmental pushback
During the hearings, several groups spoke out against the plan including Nevada Conservation League, Advanced Energy United, Western Resource Advocates and Sierra Club. They say ratepayers would foot the bill for the peakers and it would lead to a natural gas dependency in the state and have environmental impacts.
On Friday, Chispa Nevada, a program of the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, responded to the approval of NV Energy’s IRP, calling the peaking units a “costly, polluting methane gas plant,” in a news release. Natural gas is primarily composed of methane.
“We are extremely disappointed in the Public Utilities Commission. Our community will continue to fight fossil fuel power plants until we end NV Energy’s dependence on dirty methane gas,” said Audrey Peral, Chispa Nevada Program Director. “Latine families have made it clear we want clean energy choices and affordable bills.”
Ratepayers foot the bill for the plant in a similar way people pay a mortgage on a home. With a $573 million plant, ratepayers will be paying on the cost of construction until the costs are recovered throughout the plant’s lifetime.
Western Resource Advocates also responded on Friday, calling methane gas plants “price-volatile,” and said it will have negative environmental effects.
“Nevada’s IRP and resource procurement processes are fundamentally flawed, resulting in more reliance on gas turbines that do not best serve Nevadans,” said Emily Walsh, clean energy policy advisor at WRA. “NV Energy has taken advantage of the state’s inadequate process, limiting the Commission’s options to meet soaring load growth and increasing reliance on fossil fuel.”
With the first plant not expected to be in service by the end of 2026, the resulting rate changes shouldn’t be expected until late 2026.
Contact Emerson Drewes at edrewes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @EmersonDrewes on X.
