Liberty Utilities to develop two solar projects in Nevada

There may soon be two new solar projects in Nevada, one nearby in Minden and the other near Luning in Mineral County.

Liberty Utilities announced Friday that they filed an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) proposing to build two separate solar projects that would be built in Nevada and provide renewable energy to Liberty’s customers via NV Energy’s transmission lines.

Minden Sunrise Solar Project: A 20 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project to be located at 760 Muller Lane in the Town of Minden, Nevada. The project is located adjacent to the wastewater treatment facility, will connect with NV Energy’s existing Muller Substation, and is approximately ¾ of a mile south of Genoa Lane. The energy would be delivered via interconnection to NV Energy’s transmission system and delivered to points within Liberty’s service territory.

Luning Solar Energy Center: A 40 MW solar photovoltaic (PV) project to be located near Luning in Mineral County, Nevada on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. In addition to the solar installation, approximately one mile of 120 kV power line would be constructed to interconnect the project with NV Energy’s existing Table Mountain Substation. The energy would be delivered via this interconnect to NV Energy’s transmission system and delivered to points within Liberty’s California service territory.

Both projects are a first for Liberty Utilities-California, although Liberty’s parent company (Algonquin Power) has and continues to develop renewable energy sources worldwide. Renewable resources comprise 21.7% of Liberty’s total power mix and meet the State of California’s current mandate, which is scheduled to increase to 33% by 2020.

“These two proposed solar installations will help Liberty meet our renewable energy requirements into the future,” noted Travis Johnson, Liberty Utilities’ Director of Utility Planning and Business Development who oversees both solar projects.

Liberty Utilities serves 49,000 customers in its service territory through its electrical system, but purchases all of its power (except for emergency diesel generation) through a purchased power agreement (PPA). Liberty’s current PPA is with NV Energy which transmits the power it generates to Liberty through delivery points where the two systems connect.

“While there is an initial investment in building these solar installations, in the long-run our customers will benefit by Liberty owning them as we won’t be subjected to price volatility on the open market for this energy resource,” added Johnson.

Earlier this year, Liberty issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of a utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project in Nevada. The utility received numerous responses from private-sector solar developers, and has negotiated initial contracts for the project (pending CPUC approval) with Greenstone and SunPower for the Minden project, and Invenergy for the Luning project. Under the final contract, the selected contractors would develop and build the project with Liberty purchasing the installations once completed and operational. Once all approvals are obtained, construction is expected to begin in early 2016 and operational by end of 2016.