Las Vegas-based NV Energy says it has exceeded Nevada’s 20% renewable energy requirement for the eighth year in a row.
NV Energy’s 2017 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Annual Report, recently filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN), shows that the company achieved a 25.5% renewable energy and related credits level in northern Nevada and a 23.1% level in southern Nevada for a combined weighted average of 23.8%.
Separately from the state’s 20% RPS, NV Energy has set a goal to double its renewable energy portfolio by 2023.
The most recent additions to NV Energy’s renewable energy portfolio included the 50 MW Boulder Solar 2 project in Eldorado Valley, located southeast of Las Vegas, and the 179 MW Switch Station 1 and 2 solar project, located in the Dry Lake Solar Energy Zone north of Las Vegas.
NV Energy’s senior vice president of renewable resources, Dave Ulozas, notes that NV Energy has been providing renewable energy to customers since the 1980s and that the most recent renewable energy rankings by the U.S. Energy Information Administration put Nevada second in the nation for geothermal resources and fourth for solar energy.
“We are proud to continue to help expand Nevada’s growth in clean energy, which benefits both our customers and Nevada’s strengthening economy,” Ulozas says. “We’ve been able to accomplish this while keeping electricity rates about 15 percent lower than they were nearly a decade ago, and we anticipate adding a considerable amount of new renewable energy at similar or lower rates than we have in place today.”
Currently, NV Energy customers benefit from 46 separate renewable energy projects in Nevada, including 19 geothermal plants, 16 solar fields, six hydroelectric resources, four biomass or methane gas facilities, and one large wind farm. Five more large solar projects are being constructed or developed for NV Energy customers.
Additionally, the company and an independent evaluator are reviewing more than 100 bids for renewable energy projects and battery-energy storage systems proposed for 26 separate sites throughout Nevada. The winning bids will be submitted for approval to the PUCN by June 1.
NV Energy provides energy services to 1.4 million customers throughout Nevada and more than 43 million tourists annually. NV Energy is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co., are doing business as NV Energy.
