NV Energy announced that its three separate long-term renewable energy power purchase agreements were approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada. Its customers will benefit for the next 25 years through this power purchase agreements.
The three contracts approved by the commission include a solar photovoltaic project that is to be constructed by American Capital Energy near Searchlight, Nevada. The capacity of this solar project is 20 MW. The second approved contract is to be built by a Fotowatio’s subsidiary. This 26-MW project will come up near Apex, Nevada and the third contract is a landfill gas project that is to be constructed by Energenic. The 11-MW gas project is located at Apex Regional Landfill.
The power purchase agreements are the result of NV Energy’s 2008 Request for Proposals for renewable energy. All the three projects for which the approval was obtained will provide a total of 171,000 MWh of renewable energy per year. NV Energy will meet its renewable portfolio standard set by the Nevada State Legislature through this contribution. About 20% of NV Energy’s total sales of electricity should be from renewable sources by the year 2015 as per the renewable portfolio standard for the company. And by 2025, the contribution from renewable sources should be 25%.
The solar project constructed by American Capital Energy will be completed by the end of 2010 and by the end of 2011, all the three projects will be operational. NV Energy is a holding company for Sierra Pacific Power Company and Nevada Power Company. The company provides products and services to about 2.4 million Nevada’s citizens covering an area of 54,500 square miles and to approximately 40 million tourists per year.