Utility planning to consolidate its facilities in Elko area

NV Energy is searching for a new home in Elko.

The utility provider is housed in three buildings in downtown Elko and uses a fourth building located about five miles away, says Greg Brorby, project director for NV Energy. Some of the buildings in which the company is housed are more than 100 years old, and moving between the three different sites is time-consuming and inefficient, Brorby says.

NV Energy has retained NAI Alliance and broker Kim Owens to help scout locations in Elko to construct a 16,000- to 17,000-square-foot facility on approximately seven to 10 acres. NV Energy will use the site to house new offices, as well as a warehouse, repair shop and truck barn for its northeastern Nevada fleet.

“We are well underway,” Brorby says. “We have got a number of sites we are evaluating, and we will have a short list that’s down to the top two or three very soon.”

NV Energy, which currently is examining up to 13 sites within Elko city limits, expects to have the new facility placed in operation by May of 2016.

Workflow is the primary issue with its current operations. Brorby says that due to site constraints, NV Energy workers are forced to travel from block to block picking up materials and equipment or travel five miles away to the remote site to make preparations to go to a job site.

“It is our intent with the new facility to consolidate operations into one location that will allow us to become more efficient in how we operate and service our customers,” Brorby says. “We believe it will dramatically increase our efficiency by being able to be operating in one consolidated facility, and maybe improve some safety as our vehicles aren’t on the street traveling between facilities picking up materials.”

NV Energy is in the process of hiring a general contractor to provide a preliminary design and construction budget for the project. Brorby doesn’t have a target date for the project to start but expects construction to take less than one year to complete.