Nevada returned to the top spot of the U.S. Census Bureau’s list of fastest growing states in 2007, posting a 2.9% increase in residents. It was the fastest-growing state in the nation in 19 of the past 20 years, losing out to Arizona only in 2006. The allure of desert living brings not only new people and business but also adds stress to power grids, increases demand on limited water supplies, and exacerbates concerns about worsening air quality. Balancing these concerns with the need for reliable and affordable electricity supplies is perhaps the greatest challenge for utilities serving the southwest U.S.
Nevada’s electric power distribution system is unique in the U.S. Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co. (SPPC) is the principal electric utility for most of northern Nevada and the Lake Tahoe area of California. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources (SPR), which also is the holding company for Nevada Power Co. (NPC), the electric utility for southern Nevada. You might be surprised to learn that there is no direct electrical interconnection between these sister utilities (Figure 1).
1. Nevada unplugged. Sierra Pacific Resources owns Sierra Pacific (serving northern Nevada) and Nevada Power (serving Las Vegas and environs). There is currently no transmission interconnection between the two service territories, although a proposal for a new line is beginning to work its way through the permitting process. Source: Sierra Pacific Resources
SPR is responding to the challenges of finding new power supplies quickly to economically serve existing loads while looking to the future with announced plans to construct a new $500 million 250-mile transmission line to unify the service territories. The transmission line is part of SPR’s masterpiece: Its proposed Ely Energy Center includes two 750-MW coal-fired units scheduled for 2015, followed by two 500-MW integrated gasification combined-cycle units at a later date.
The importance of the new transmission line goes beyond generation resource sharing between the two utilities; it also will have sufficient capacity to accommodate the needs of future wind, geothermal, and solar projects. Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard calls for 20% of its generation to be powered by renewable resources by 2015. The new coal-based projects will also bring needed fuel diversification, as 75% of Nevada’s generation is fueled by natural gas.
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