The Harlow Report-GIS
2023 Edition
ISSN 0742-468X
Since 1978
On-line Since 2000
first published week of: 04/03/2023
NV Energy to Add Gas Plant as Drought Threatens Power Grids
by Rio Yamat Associated Press
The $333 million project will build a natural gas plant in Nevada for the first time in nearly 15 years.
Utility regulators in Nevada gave the state’s largest power provider clearance to start work on a $333 million project to build a natural gas plant in the state for the first time in nearly 15 years, signaling yet another consequence of the extreme drought conditions in the southwestern U.S.
The two gas-fired turbines to be erected north of Las Vegas by NV Energy are expected to come online by July 2024 amid hotter summers and longer wildfire seasons in a state that aims to have a carbon-free power grid by 2050.
Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission approved the plans last week. It said the turbines are needed to address peak electricity demand in the summer months, as ever-drying conditions in the West continue to stress the region’s power grids and slash hydroelectric output, including the behemoth power producers on the Colorado River — the Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam.
But environmental advocates have argued that the turbines mark a major step backward for Nevada’s climate goals.
Read full story at Nevada Appeal…