Nv Gives $1Million To Reno For Solar

According to AP reports, NV Energy just gave the city of Reno, Nevada, a $1-million incentive payment to be used for installing solar panels at the Reno Events Center, and for paying off the cost of panels installed earlier this year at the city's Parking Gallery garage.

NV Energy, an offshoot of a merger between Nevada Power, Sierra Pacific Power and Sierra Pacific Resources, serves northern Nevada and northwestern California – in towns like Tahoe, Portola and Quincy – providing electricity to 2.4 million ratepayers. The company also provides natural gas to the Reno-Sparks area.

The $1-million incentive, hand-delivered to Reno Mayor Bob Cashell on the evening of Dec. 15, will be used to install solar photovoltaic panels to reduce the city's annual electricity use by about 420,000 kilowatt-hours, or the equivalent of sequestering 302 metric tons of carbon dioxide by removing 57.7 cars from the road or planting 7,734 trees.

It will also reduce utility charges by about $55,000 per year, which seems like a distinct loss to the utility until one considers peak demand and the fact that the area served by NV Energy is growing by leaps and bounds. Not to mention that the Nevada legislature has already mandated that utilities get 12 percent of their energy from renewables by the end of 2009, 15 percent by 2013, and 20 percent by 2015.

Up to 2008, Nevada Power and Sierra Pacific Power both missed their mandates, but that situation turned around rapidly, with NV Energy getting the required 9 percent by the beginning of 2009. And this year looks to be a repeat, with NV Energy siting, or completing, 35 renewable projects, most from solar energy.

In fact, NV Energy is currently delivering a very small environmental footprint, buying solar energy from eight local plants, including the 64-megawatt Nevada Solar One and the 14-megawatt plant near Nellis Air Force Base – both of which provide enough electricity to power about 70,000 homes. This represents a huge solar gain for NV Energy, with only SCE (Southern California Edison) and PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) buying more.

The check was cut through NV Energy's SolarGenerations program, which provides incentives for solar, wind and hydro generation, and essentially requires that selected customers join NV Energy's net metering program, hire an approved installer, and install systems with 20-year guarantees (7 years for inverters). The net metering program offers $2.30 per watt, up to 1 megawatt in size, or about $7,900 for a 3-kilowatt system, maxing our at $11,500 for residential installations and $69,000 for businesses.

The NV Energy SolarGenerations program will begin accepting applications for 2010-2011 in early 2010.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/nv-gives-1million-to-reno-for-solar-1850775.html

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