Valley Electric Association board members didn't hear any complaints about the new impact fees imposed on new construction Wednesday, but member Val Von Holt questioned the board about why they don't take advantage of solar power.

VEA Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted said a number of companies have approached the cooperative recently about alternative energy projects, including a company looking at building a 180 megawatt solar facility in Amargosa Valley. Another company has talked about a 60 megawatt facility in Amargosa Valley in phase one, followed by a second and third phase.

"I'd like to see this board grab the horns of the bull and do something about it," Von Holt said.

A consultant from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, told her a few years ago about the community's potential to harvest energy from the sun, Von Holt said. She predicted more residents would flee Southern California for Nevada after the latest forest fires like the migration after the Northridge earthquake in the early 1990s.

"Pahrump is in itself a great mood and a great place because land was relatively cheap two or three years ago and they were in the throes of working on the Boulder City project," Von Holt said quoting the university specialist. "That's an example of what's happening. Why are we not doing something? For 140 acres we could actually supply the entire valley with electricity from solar energy."

"You know very well we have much more sun than we have wind. There's too many days when we don't have wind," she said.

Husted said results are expected soon on the viability of a VEA pilot program to install solar powered water heaters in homes on the first anniversary of the implementation of the small scale project.

Valley Electric is not only working with companies on the solar panels themselves, but the transmission lines to wheel that power to other companies, Husted said.

"The technology is more expensive than what Valley Electric can afford," Husted said. But he added VEA could work with other utilities in the area to wheel that power.

While Solargenix opened its 64 megawatt solar project recently in Eldorado Valley near Boulder City, Husted said a solar plant is only on line 20 percent of the time.

"How we fit that into our portfolio is not easily done," Husted said. "We haven't made a lot of announcements because they (companies) are coming in once a week."

Some proposals are from less established startup companies, but he said other alternative energy projects are from more reputable ones.

"Pretty soon one of them is going to land," Husted said. "In a very responsible and methodical manner we are moving forward."

VEA board member Bob Hartman, from Fish Lake Valley, answered another question from an audience member, saying, "are we looking at ways to make sense of customers to use green power? Yup."

While U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has talked about taking 100 square miles from Amargosa Valley north for a solar facility that could produce 8,000 gigawatts, Hartman asked, "what are you going to do with it?

"You don't have infrastructure," Hartman said. "All the difficulties that it takes to get a transmission line in this day and age is another of the things we have to deal with. It's not just a way of saying it's a great site for solar."

Valley Electric has been working with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Bureau of Land Management to get a transmission line installed around Mount Sterling to the Nevada Power system at Indian Springs and a loop transmission line around Pahrump Valley to avoid power blackouts, such as occurred last Jan. 13.

Hartman said a director of a rural cooperative association trade group predicted recently America could enter a period unseen since the 1930s when people weren't able to afford energy.

The impact fee issue wasn't totally ignored. In a report to the board, Husted said the utility would've taken in $28 million if the impact fees had been in effect from 2000 to 2008.

Valley Electric had 14,700 metered accounts in 2000, which is expected to grow to 21,500 by the end of 2008, Husted said.

While the average cooperative grows by 2 percent per year on a national average, VEA has grown by 6 percent.

"With growth you also have to have an adequate supply of what we call back bone system, transmission facilities and then also substations that will serve not only the existing customers, existing members, but also future members. It's also a very capital intensive system," Husted said.

Since 2000, Valley Electric investment in total plant assets increased from $100 million to $180 million, he said.

"Our investment in total plant has gone up from 14 percent to 34 percent," of revenues, Husted said.

Wholesale costs of power went up from 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour in 2000 to 3.4 cents in 2004, to 5.8 cents currently. Projections are wholesale power costs next year will be six cents per kwh, Husted said.

"In 2000 we had total debt service of $45 million. At the end of this year we're projecting to have total debt service of $72 million, next year of $83 million," Husted said.

Husted said the costs of metal like copper have gone up, making the cost of a new substation today $2.4 million, double what it would have been half a dozen years ago.

"As we continue to grow as a community, it continues to put pressure on us in a number of ways," Husted said.

Total VEA sales went from $390 million to $467 million since 2000, he said. Revenues went up from $23 million to $53 million.

"Growth pays for itself. Otherwise the only way to pay for growth is with retail rates," Husted said of the impact fees.