A lack of local fanfare has accompanied some genuinely good news for Southern Nevada's solar energy sun worshippers.
Maybe that's a good thing.
Solar energy success stories nationally have been clouded by some highly publicized flops. As panned and politicized as renewable energy has become in the current presidential campaign, officials can hardly be blamed for wanting to maintain a low profile.
The big story:
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's board of commissioners last week approved two long-term solar power purchase agreements in an effort to meet the city's lofty renewable energy goals. One calls for a graduated, 25-year contract with K Road Moapa Solar LLC for up to 250 megawatts drawn from a proposed solar plant on the tribal land of the Moapa Band of Paiute Indians. Ironically, the solar plant is set to stretch out a little more than a stone's throw from NV Energy's controversial coal-fired Reid Gardner Power Plant, which is regularly vilified by environmentalists and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as unsafe and out of step with the times. (The Environmental Protection Agency in August conditionally approved Reid Gardner's continued operation.)
A second LADWP purchase agreement calls for 210 megawatts from the Sempra U.S. Gas and Power Copper Mountain Solar 3 project outside Boulder City. Both projects are set for completion by 2016, according to the LADWP, and that they have a major customer signed is grand news.
After the vote, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said, “This is a defining moment for our city's economic and environmental future. ? If you want proof that environmental progress and economic growth go hand in hand, look no further than today's decision. We are shaking our fossil fuel addiction.”
Now that's confidence.
As always, the numbers are as bright as the sun – and almost as hard to stare at. The proposed 350-megawatt Moapa facility's energy will power approximately 118,000 California homes with plenty to spare for other customers. (Is NV Energy listening?) The Boulder City plant will provide electricity for 70,000 homes.
During his June announcement of the approval of the 2,000-acre Moapa facility, the first of its kind, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar called the project “trailblazing” and a sign of renewable energy's bright future on tribal lands.
In addition to the power, the facilities will generate several hundred construction jobs and boost a Moapa Paiute tribe that has long struggled to improve its quality of life.
The Reid name is no stranger to the energy debate. The Senator has been an outspoken advocate for the Obama administration's renewable energy policies. Son Rory Reid represents a Chinese solar company and is a former energy lobbyist. Before becoming the Henderson City Attorney, son Josh Reid represented a variety of interests that included solar and wind companies and the Moapa Paiute tribe.
While the news from Los Angeles surely energizes solar's advocates, questions remain. Among them:
Will NV Energy take the development as a sign of things to come and adjust accordingly? (The Moapa facility, after all, is slated to have a 350-megawatt capacity.)
Will K Road succeed despite its lack of a track record in creating solar facilities as large as the one scheduled to rise on Moapa Paiute tribal land?
The company's lone functioning solar facility, according to its website, is a 25.8-megawatt operation in Modesto, Calif. K Road's 294-megawatt Calico plant east of Barstow is said to be near completion, but it continues to undergo design changes. (It was purchased in 2010 from bankrupt Tessera Solar.)
A bright future, a bruising present: The promise of solar energy production runs into the political realities of doing business in a competitive marketplace. It's a recurring theme.
While this eventually could be a game changer for solar energy in Southern Nevada – even if the electricity produced winds up in Los Angeles – for now the champagne should remain corked.
There's time for celebrating and sunglasses once those solar facilities are up and running.
