Nevada utilities to increase geothermal energy usage
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Nevada utilities will be using more steam to generate electricity.
State regulators have approved contracts for 73 megawatts of new geothermal power from three rural northern Nevada generating sites.
Nevada, especially the northern end of the state, holds some of North America's largest reservoirs of geothermal energy.
The three contracts include Nevada Geothermal Power Company's 25-megawatt Faulkner 1 power plant in Humboldt County, Ormat Nevada's 24-megawatt Buffalo Valley project in Lander County and its 24-megawatt Carson Lake project in Churchill County.
Full production is slated to begin in 2010. One megawatt is estimated to power about 650 homes.
"With the approval, Nevada continues to be a leader in the development of renewable resources," said Rebecca Wagner, a member of the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada.
The contracts are for the purchase of renewable energy credits by Las Vegas-based Nevada Power Co. to help meet state standards requiring, by 2015, that 20 percent of a utility's energy portfolio be renewable-based.
Nevada Power's sister subsidiary in Reno, Sierra Pacific Power Co., will receive the energy from the three plants until late 2011 when a transmission line connecting northern and southern Nevada is expected to be completed.
---
Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal, http://www.rgj.com
GHT Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
