Dive Brief:
- NV Energy has selected SunPower to build a 19 megawatt addition to the solar installation at Nellis Air Force Base.
- Pending approval by the Nevada Public Utility Commission, NV Energy, a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy group, will pay up to $54.5 million for the new solar capacity addition to the 14 megawatt solar installation built at Nellis by SunPower in 2007.
- This new solar will be a small part of the new generation NV Energy will require as it moves ahead with the mandated closure of three units of the 800 megawatt coal-fired Reid Gardner Generating Station by the end of this year and closure of the fourth unit by the end of 2017.
Dive Insight:
NV Energy Renewable Energy VP Stacey Kusters recently described the utility’s plans to meet Nevada’s 25% renewables by 2025 mandate by adding nearly 500 megawatts of natural gas, 200 megawatts of utility-scale solar, and issuing three 100 megawatt RFPs for solar, geothermal, and wind.
NV Energy will also build a new high voltage line connecting the state’s northern and southern service areas that will sustain the utility’s resource diversity, capacity, and flexibility as it moves away from coal, according to Kusters.
NV Energy’s participation in an emerging western region Energy Imbalance Market, along with PacifiCorp, another utility member of the Berkshire Hathaway Energy unit, will add further reliability as the utility cuts back on coal.
