Vol. 3, No. 18
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July 15, 2006
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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Feature Story:
Nevada Could Be World Leader In Alternative Power Generation
Solar And Geothermal Opportunities Lost On The Timid And Frightened
by Johnny Gunn
While great strides are being made in some areas of electrical power generation, in other areas the concept of modern technology simply doesn't exist. Solargenix, one of the world leaders in developing solar generating plants, is building a 64-megawat solar generating plant near Boulder City in southern Nevada while Nevada Power is contemplating a large coal fired plant near Ely in eastern Nevada. The one does not compliment the other in the world of power generation.
The Boulder City operation, known as Solar One, broke ground in February and according to published information from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the National Laboratories the technology being used is such that it can compete directly with plants relying on fossil fuels. Go to http://www.solargenix.com. Called parabolic trough technology, a liquid that can withstand temperatures as high as 750 degrees Fahrenheit without boiling or turning to steam, is piped through troughs and super heated by the sun's rays directed onto the troughs by way of mirrors.
That liquid in turn heats water to steam to drive the turbines that generate electricity. According to the Solargenix website, "The basis for our technologies is a science called non-imaging optics that was developed by Dr. Roland Winston at the University of Chicago." Solar One will be the largest solar electric power plant to be built globally in the past 14-years and it will be the third largest solar plant in the world. Nevada could rank among the largest producers of solar energy in the world.
Solar trough power plants have been in existence for some time according to the company. The technology was developed by the Luz Company and is the basis for the 354-meagwatt plant in the Mojave Desert in California. The use of parabolic mirrors concentrates the sun's rays to heat mineral oil to very high temperatures. The fluid then is passed through a heat exchanger to vaporize a secondary working fluid, usually water that drives the turbines. That fluid is then condensed back to liquid and is reused time and again.
According to reports issued by DOE there are large areas of Nevada suitable for solar generation using the solar trough technology, areas that combined could represent as much as 600,000 megawatts of energy. Currently Nevada's solar energy output is less than three percent of the total generated in the state. Solargenix plans to sell the power generated by Solar One to Nevada Power, a division of Sierra Pacific Resources. Nevada Power is the primary distributor of electricity in southern Nevada.
Renewable energy sources are plentiful in Nevada including geothermal and solar, and there is also interest in developing wind generating plants in the state. It was the increased and volatile price of natural gas and other fossil fuels that created a demand for other sources of energy. According to Solargenix officials solar energy produced by their technology is probably cheaper in the long run than natural gas and is competitive with coal. The one thing about the solar trough and parabolic mirror technology they point out is how clean the operation is. No air, water, or ground pollution exists with their technology.
Another clean energy source is geothermal power. Unlike solar energy, geothermal is site specific in that the plant cannot simply be built near existing large transmission lines, but must be built over or very close to an active geothermal system. Nevada is one of the most active states as far as geothermal activity goes, and there are several active geothermal generating plants. Because of the potential for large amounts of energy to be developed by solar and geothermal technology, the state has a Nevada Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Task Force (http://www.nevadarenewables.org) that works to coordinate development of new energy sources. The agency works with the Nevada State Office of Energy, The Bureau of Consumer Protection, and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The Task Force was created by the 2001 Legislature and is funded through the Trust Fund for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation. According to their own web site, the agency's reports have resulted in new renewable energy and energy conservation legislation and regulations.
One of the most successful renewable energy projects in the state is operated by Ormat Geothermal near Steamboat Springs south of Reno. Ormat operates the Soda Lake plant near Fallon, the Brady Geothermal Plant, and just put Galena One near its Steamboat operation into use. At Steamboat the power plant operates on a liquid dominated geothermal source and utilizes an air-cooler to condense the organic fluid, as no make-up water is available. Before Galena 1 was operating, Ormat was generating at least seven megawatts of energy at Steamboat.
The Soda Lake operation is a 12-megawatt plant that has been in operation since 1991. Using Ormat technology the plant is owned by Constellation Developments, Inc., Chrysler Capital Corporation, and OESI Power Corporations and is operated by Nevada Operations, Inc.
The Brady Geothermal Plant is a 20-megawatt operation consisting of three condensing steam turbines and one air-cooled converter. The geothermal fluid is at a fairly constant 306 degrees Fahrenheit. For more on Ormat, a Sparks, Nevada corporation, go to http://www.ormat.com.
As more and more renewable energy sources are brought on line, there are opportunities to learn about what's available. The Western Area Power Administration runs a web site filled with information: http://www.wapa.gov/es/greennews. The Environmental Working Group Action Fund can be found at http://www.ewg.org.
Despite what seems to be a strong effort to incorporate clean energy sources into Nevada's power grid, the most effort still is in the area of coal fired and natural gas fired power plants. The primary source of power for Nevadans comes from Sierra Pacific Resources which operates Sierra Pacific Power Company (SPPCo) in the northern counties, and Nevada Power in the south. At this time there is no integrated distribution system and the company's northern power stays in the north, and power generated in the south stays in the south.
That may change if the Frontier Line, a multiple state transmission line is completed through eastern Nevada. The line would connect Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California and could carry as much as 6,000 megawatts of wind power along with 6,000 megawatts of coal generated power. The project is still in the discussion stage, but Nevada's power distributors and the governor have come out in favor of the plan. There is one problem that hasn't been discussed openly and that is California's current law against the importation of power generated from coal.
In line with the potential transmission line, Sierra Pacific Resources is working to build a series of coal fired plants in White Pine County. The plants would then tie to the transmission line and would feed energy to both the south and the north counties of the state. It would be the first time SPPCo and Nevada Power would be able to share an energy source.
There is considerable opposition to the idea. Coal fired power plants are simply not clean, and air pollution is a definite byproduct. Carbon dioxide is one of the primary pollutants along with high amounts of mercury. Power plants across the country are responsible for most of the man-made mercury found in air, ground, and water pollution.
Along with Sierra Pacific Resources another company is vying to build massive coal fired plants in White Pine County. LS Power has been working for several years to get all the permits required to build plants near Ely. It will be the state PUC that makes the decision on which company will build the plants, or if neither will be licensed. Along with the opposition from conservation groups there is also opposition of a type from Consumer Advocate Eric Witkoski because of an ongoing court battle that dates back to the energy problems created by Enron and like sources.
Witkoski may yet challenge a decision that was made by Sierra Pacific Resources in which they settled a dispute with Enron and paid a hefty price for it. The company may go to the PUC to get that money back by way of rate increases. Other companies, in federal court have been told they did not need to pay the disputed Enron debt. Enron claimed Sierra Pacific Resources owed them $330 million and the utility paid a part of that before a court hearing was held.
Witkoski says he believes Sierra Pacific will expect to recover that through higher rates. The so-called western states energy crisis was created by the greed of several companies like Enron that offered their resources at extremely inflated rates. The high cost of natural gas today is blamed on the hurricanes of last year, but some dispute that and believe it is price gouging at its worst.
In Nevada then, our primary source of electrical energy, despite limited inroads by solar and geothermal energy companies is coal and natural gas. There are no rivers in Nevada from which hydroelectric power could be generated, barring of course the Colorado River and Hoover Dam. The electricity generated by Lake Mead does not go into the Nevada power grid.
There is one other source of electrical energy that is rarely discussed in genteel company; nuclear power. For most Nevadans the idea is repulsive, in particular because of the Yucca Mountain debacle. Nuclear energy plants across the country cannot take care of their garbage today, and they are working overtime to build more plants. The U.S. Government caved into nuclear industry demands during the cold war and said it would be the government's responsibility to take the high level waste rather than take a chance on it becoming part of some country's nuclear war arsenal.
Looked on today, that was more than short-sighted, and after more than 20-years, their is still no nuclear waste repository. Yucca Mountain it was decided would be the only site considered for the repository, and more and more it's becoming obvious that the area simply is not scientifically a safe area for something as potentially dangerous as high level nuclear waste.
Even if it comes about that the waste will be maintained at or near the current energy plants, even if it becomes reality that high level waste can be reconstituted into fuel again, Bob Loux of the Nevada Nuclear Agency says the state would not be in favor of a nuclear energy producing plant in the Silver State. "We would not support such an idea," he said recently.
There is already sufficient waste from the production plants to more than fill the Yucca Mountain repository if it were open today. Those plants continue to produce waste, and Yucca will never be able to store what will be available. A strong move in Congress is underway to allow the waste to remain at the power plants or in several areas near power plants and develop a means of making the waste into a usable fuel again. Some strong supporters of the original idea for Yucca Mountain have changed their minds on the issue, such as New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici. He is working closely with Nevada Senator Harry Reid on legislation.
In the meantime this country is making plans to accept waste from other countries to be stored at Yucca, and countries around the world produce many hundreds of tons of waste. Nuclear energy is widely produced in Europe, particularly in France, and the technology has moved dramatically to Asia recently. Nuclear plants exist in China, India, South Korea, North Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The waste from these sites will remain on-site, but the U.S. is considering inviting the countries to send their waste here. The argument is to stop the proliferation of nuclear weapons. It may be a bit late for that kind of thinking.
From the view of those that pay the way, that is energy users in Nevada, it looks like we will be paying for coal fired plants for years to come. There is no strong desire on the part of Sierra Pacific Resources to support a strong effort toward alternative energy sources. In recent full-page newspaper advertisements, the company is strongly promoting the building of coal fired and natural gas fired power plants around the state. The distribution of alternative power by the company remains a dismal five- percent or less.
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