BEATTY -- A $492,000 renewable energy study will examine planning issues associated with various wind and solar projects proposed around Nye County, the possibility of converting county buildings to green power and generating biomass from the county landfill.

Nye County would be responsible for paying at least 20 percent of the research and development cost, which can be in the form of in-kind services. The U.S. Department of Energy will pay the remainder. The county would have to pay 50 percent of the cost of demonstration projects.

The application was approved under the consent agenda at the April 15 Nye County Commission meeting. Under the consent agenda a number of items seen as routine are approved with one motion with no discussion.

The six projects include:

* Comprehensive land use and infrastructure planning for multiple solar and wind energy production facilities proposed for the Amargosa Valley and Beatty areas.

The county application states: "The Amargosa Valley and Beatty areas of southern Nye County have been overwhelmed by BLM land use applications for renewable energy power generating plants -- at this point over 110 square miles of proposed facilities have surfaced."

Local planners don't have the technical ability to assess the cumulative environmental, economic and infrastructure impacts, the application states. Consultants would have to meet with officials representing Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge and Death Valley National Park to prevent any impacts on those ecological areas.

* Nye County has been approached with proposals ranging from recycling to biomass production at the present and future landfill site.

This project would study the potential of generating biomass energy from the landfills to serve a projected population of 75,000 to 150,000 residents over the next 50 years.

* A 3,800-acre site at Tonopah Airport has been targeted for a 70-megawatt net solar, parabolic trough power plant, which is currently in the design phase, the county states.

The applicants have also applied to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for additional property adjacent to the airport.

The county application states: "A second solar development using alternative technology has also been proposed within five miles of this 70 mw development. Subsequently, additional economic proposals have been made for promising industrial aviation uses requiring airport area infrastructure expansion and a major extension of the main runway."

The study would look at water requirements at the airport for solar technology, air space height restrictions, electrical interference and disposition of old hangars and air base remains. The solar power could be used to power the Tonopah water well.

The siting of access roads, water, sewer and power lines would be studied.

* A Brownfields-Scarred Lands initiative demonstration project at the old Barrick Bullfrog Mine near Beatty led to an action plan for reusing it as a renewable energy industrial park.

Eight companies used that plan to propose solar and wind energy projects. Several developers are also interested in promoting research on storing solar power at the old mine.

While the Bullfrog Mine, which closed in 1999, has been cleaned up, the application states planners need to identify how to efficiently use the 81-acre site.

That project would prepare compatible site designs to support wind and solar production facilities as well as educational and research programs proposed by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and the University of Arizona.

The site could be used for basic mining technology training and house a potential visitors center, under the list of potential uses.

* A wind monitoring site would be selected northwest of Beatty to further evaluate the potential for wind power generation. Anemometers and the support towers would be installed to study the feasibility of a wind power farm in the area that could extend the capacity of nearby solar power projects during off-peak periods.

* Evaluating the conversion of specific county buildings to solar power. Instrument packages would be installed on the buildings to monitor solar data for possible photovoltatic power panels. Estimates of possible cost savings would be used for capital projects for future county buildings.