MARK WAITE / PVT Rebecca Oscarson, marketing coordinator for Valley Electric Association, at left, shakes hands with Gov. Jim Gibbons, to thank him for a state grant to install a wind turbine at Rosemary Clarke Middle School as part of an educational project, and a grant to install energy efficient windows in the Fish Lake Valley school. At right, Linda Kass is also on hand. Advertisement

Gov. Jim Gibbons urged representatives of the Nevda Rural Electric Association to work together to move electricity around Nevada.

The governor spoke during the NREA conference at the Pahrump Nugget Thursday.

Gibbons said Nevada has a lot of resources for renewable energy like wind, solar, geothermal and biomass resources, but the challenge is building the transmission grid to convey that power. The governor said Nevada spends $2 billion to import power into the state.

Valley Electric Association Chief Executive Officer Tom Husted was appointed recently to a governor's committee studying transmission capacity. The committee is looking at areas in Nevada where the state can capitalize on renewable energy and then how to get that power into the grid.

"How do we get those very unconveniently located resources into the transmission grid to be able to produce the power and sell it at market? Because right now we're subject to the variability of the market when we go to power markets to purchase that $2 billion a year," Gibbons said.

If Nevada has the ability to get off buying power on the energy market and produce it at home with renewable energy, the power companies and cooperatives could provide greater rate stability for their customers, Gibbons said. it could also create jobs, he added.

"We are here to fill in that gap between where we are today and the renewable energy of tomorrow," Gibbons said. "I want to see the state of Nevada be a one-stop shop for those people who want to come into the energy area, build the capacity to generate out of renewables, build the transmission corridor and be able to move those electrons around the state and out of the state of Nevada."

"We're only going to get that when we have a working group like you have in this association that sits down together, doesn't look at turf wars," he said. "Put aside the differences, put aside the barriers, work together and build a single Nevada power-generating capacity," he said.

Another speaker, Nevada District 36 Assemblyman Ed Goedhart, R-Amargosa Valley, said the state has limited oil production, only in Railroad Valley, and little natural gas. There won't be any nuclear power plants coming on line soon or dams to provide hydroelectric power, he said.

"If the Lord gives us lemons, let's make lemonade. We have a lot of sunshine, we have a lot of geothermal, we have some scattered pockets of winds." Goedhart said.

Nevada has to diversify its economy from gaming and construction that are being hard hit by the downturn in the economy, he said.

"We also have to have a production segment, whether it's manufacturing or energy production or gold, ranching, mining. We have to look at those areas at well," the freshman assemblyman told the conference.

Goedhart told one co-op member energy will probably be one of the top three issues in the upcoming session of the state legislature. The revenue shortfall will be a primary topic, he admitted.

Goedhart said water rights protests in Amargosa Valley and a lag in approving right-of-way applications by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management have tied up solar energy projects.

The BLM has decided not to put right-of-way applications for solar projects on hold until a programmatic environmental impact statement is developed, Goedhart said. The BLM has also agreed to allow multiple claims to rights-of-way for one piece of property, in case some filings are from speculators just interested in reselling the land, to ensure projects get developed, Goedhart said.

Goedhart urged cooperative officials to lobby their legislators like the "armies" of lobbyists roaming the halls in Carson City from groups like fire chief's associations, sheriff's associations, farmers, ranchers and cattlemen.

Valley Electric Association board member Shelia Rau suggested the cooperatives could implement the "Our Energy Our Future" writing campaign that was used to successfully lobby against a federal bill to impose a carbon tax, to help convince state legislators their well being depends on the ability of rural areas to develop.