Last year NV Energy exceeded one GW of renewable energy capacity driven by Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) which requires that at least 25 percent of the company’s retail energy sales come from renewable energy resources by 2025.
On a per capita basis, Nevada is ranked first nationally in both installed geothermal and solar energy capacity. NV Energy began investing in geothermal electric power generation in 1983 and now has more than 315 MW, soon to rise to 565 MW, of geothermal energy capacity.
These days renewable, intermittent energy sources such as solar or wind are complemented by combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) ( ex Siemens, GE ) generation to provide power when wind or solar power sources alone are unable to meet load.
An interesting hybrid geothermal and solar plant in Nevada has just been announced. The solar plant will be built at the existing Stillwater Geothermal Plant by Enel Green Power and will generate an additional 24 MW of power. At this plant geothermal will provide the base power stream, and the solar plant will add additional power to meet peak demand. The energy produced at the hybrid plant will be sold to NV Energy.
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