TONOPAH -- Officials are being tight-lipped about a company that responded to a request for proposals by Nevada Power Co., expressing an interest in leasing a portion of the Tonopah Airport for a solar energy project.

Sierra Pacific Resources, which has two Nevada subsidiaries, Nevada Power Co. and Sierra Pacific Power Co., issued a request for proposals for renewable energy resources Sept. 28. Proposals will be considered for solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and other resources eligible for portfolio energy credits.

Nevada Power, which serves the Las Vegas area, is under a mandate to have a percentage of its power generated from renewable sources, or green power.

The proposals were due to be submitted Tuesday. Nevada Power spokesman Adam Grant wouldn't disclose information about the bidder.

Nye County commissioners last Tuesday, without comment, voted to approve a resolution to lease a portion of the Tonopah Airport without offering it at public auction, which is an allowable action under a new state law.

Companies wishing to lease a portion of the airport property to establish a public utility to produce alternative energy have been asked to request how much acreage would be needed, propose terms of the lease, list the foreseeable economic development benefits, give a financial history of the company and a list of key personnel.

Nye County owns the general aviation airport which sits on 3,800 acres of developable land just east of Tonopah.

Another 22,000 acres around the airport are on the disposal list by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management in a resource management plan.

It was the former Tonopah Army Air Corps Base with two, 8,000-foot runways and the third-longest non-military apron in the country. Yet, while the county has received some promising nibbles from prospective companies, the airport has been largely quiet.

Nye County Commissioner Joni Eastley, a member of the Nevada Airport Managers Association, calls facilities like Tonopah Airport "tremendous economic engines for rural communities."

Nye County paved the road to the Beatty Airport, where there has been talk of a race track by Rupert Bragg Smith, who built the Corvette driving school in Pahrump.

Eureka County secured an Economic Development Administration grant to improve runways and hire a fixed base operator.

Battle Mountain Airport is a base for fire fighting operations. For many years gamblers flew into Elko Airport on junkets at the Red Lion Casino.

The county commission resolution said Nye County entered into leases for parts of the Tonopah Airport property before, which have lapsed or are close to doing so due to their termination date.

The RFP from Nevada Power asks for companies willing to own, propose or develop have rights to a renewable energy generating facility larger than one megawatt.

That amount of energy could power several hundred homes, according to the Nevada Power spokesman.

The county resolution notes: "Due to the importance ... Nevada places on the development of renewable energy, it is reasonable to anticipate that other such requests for proposals for renewable energy facilities may be forthcoming."

The resolution notes the state legislature revised the Nevada Revised Statutes this past session, passing Assembly Bill 462, that eliminated the requirement for single or dual appraisals of county property when or if that property is sold or leased to a public utility.

With the resolution, the Board of County Commissioners went on record as determining it would be in the best interest of Nye County and its residents "to take advantage of the confluence of natural resources available at the Tonopah Airport property (land and sun), demand for those resources, empowering legislation and interested partners in development of this important asset."

The resolution requires assurances any development won't interfere with the viability of the operations of the general aviation airport, such as height or air landing restrictions.

The client also commits not to use the property to limit competitive uses of other parts of the airport property.

Funds from leasing property would be deposited into the county's airport fund and used for maintenance and operations.