Dive Brief:
- NV Energy has shut down three coal units at the aging Reid Gardner Power Plant worth 300 MW of power, and will replace the power with cleaner gas-fired generation.
- The 557-MW facility located near Moapa, Nev., began operating in 1965.
- The final generator at Reid Gardner is the facility's largest, a 257-MW unit commissioned in 1983. It is scheduled to be taken offline in 2017.
Dive Insight:
In 2013 Nevada lawmakers passed Senate Bill 123, which called for the elimination of 800 MW of coal-fired generation in favor of cleaner sources of energy. NV Energy has now taken 300 MW offline, the Las Vegas Sun reports, and will follow in 2017 with the last unit at the Reid Gardner facility.
In May NV Energy filed a power generation plan for southern Nevada, saying it intended to acquire both the 274-MW gas-fired Las Vegas Cogeneration units, owned by Las Vegas Cogeneration Limited Partnership and Las Vegas Cogeneration II LLC, and the 222-MW gas-fired Sun-Peak Generating Facility. The Sun-Peak facility is owned by Nevada Sun-Peak Limited Partnership.
NV Energy also proposed to acquire two solar photovoltaic projects in southern Nevada, including the 200-MW Moapa Solar Project. RES Americas developed and will construct the project, which will be located north of Las Vegas.
"This resource plan is very cost competitive and will move NV Energy toward a more balanced and less carbon intense power generation portfolio while creating significant economic benefits for Nevada,” said NV Energy President Paul Caudill.