Dive Summary:
- Nevada’s Senate passed a bill Wednesday requiring NV Energy to shut down three coal plants, eliminating at least 800 megawatts of coal-fired power by the end of 2019.
- The bipartisan bill puts Nevada at the "forefront of energy policy in this country,” said energy chairman, Kelvin Atkinson, D-North Las Vegas. “The political reality is that sooner or later those plants are going to be gone," said Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden.
- The Nevada Policy Research Institute, a conservative think tank, said NV Energy will have to charge customers for the costs of retiring coal plants, including stockpiles of coal already purchased. But the bill authorizes a state review of potential rate hikes.
From the article:
“NV Energy will close the Reid Gardner coal plant in southern Nevada by 2017. The company also plans to cease taking power from the Navajo plant in northern Arizona and close the Valmy coal-fired plant in northern Nevada by 2025.”
