NV Energy, NCED to jointly market renewable resources

The Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the state's largest utility said last week they have joined forces to create an effort to promote Nevada's renewable energy resources

Their sales pitch: Nevada combines abundant raw materials wind, solar and geothermal for renewable energy production along with a business friendly political environment.

The marketing effort known as "Team Nevada" will debut during the Renewable Energy World Conference in Las Vegas next month. Organizers plan to take the campaign to other industry conferences and trade shows.

Joining the state economic development and NV Energy in creation of the program are county and regional economic development agencies throughout the state.

And the campaign focuses on private- and public-sector initiatives in northern Nevada.

For instance, organizers note that Reno-based Ormat Technologies is among the key players in the fields of geothermal energy and recovered energy.

Nevada is the second-largest geothermal producer in the nation and has 45 geothermal projects under development.

In eastern Nevada, NV Energy has proposed a 250-mile, north-south transmission line that will allow the utility to move electricity generated by wind-generation plants to the urban areas that consume electricity.

The Ely area has good to excellent wind resources available, the U.S. Department of Energy has reported.

Also to be spotlighted will be research projects into renewable energy undertaken by the Desert Research

Institute in Reno, said Mike Skaggs, executive director of the commission on economic development.

He said the marketing effort will detail the natural resources that are available in the state along with economic and financial incentives available from the state government for renewable energy projects.

State and NV Energy executives also will spotlight the manufacturing infrastructure abundant machine

shops in the northern part of the state, for instance that's available to support renewables firms.

And the state also will point to training programs undertaken by community colleges and universities to ensure that renewables companies can draw on a pool of skilled workers, Skaggs says.

NV Energy, which is required by state law to purchase a steadily increase amount of its electrical supply from renewable sources, has said it plans to spend $2 billion to purchase power from renewable facilities and invest in the facilities themselves by 2015.