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Sun set to rise on a new age for energy

 

 

Energy task force, distributed generation committee, policy recommendations, bill draft requests … these and other thrilling bureaucratic terms have been flashing across

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the newsfeeds of anyone paying attention to developments in Nevada’s renewable energy sector  — not the least of which are those interested in rooftop solar. But unless you’re an insider, or willing to spend a snooze-inducing afternoon wading through government documents, you probably don’t understand what it all means. Desert Companion braved the snore-fest to bring you this primer.

 

It all starts with the New Energy Industry Task Force. Governor Brian Sandoval convened this group in February, following the controversy of national proportions that Nevada’s changes to net metering turned out to be. (For those who’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, the state’s Public Utilities Commission created a new rate class and structure for rooftop-solar customers, which basically made having the personal power plants unaffordable and drove related businesses out of the state.) Net metering, by the way, is the billing system for rooftop-solar customers.

But being the big-picture kind of guy he is, Sandoval made the task force about more than just that. He asked for recommendations in three areas of energy development:

  1. Clean energy sources and technologies
  2. Grid modernization
  3. Distributed generation and storage

 
From there, the task force appointed three corresponding technical advisory committees. These committees are made up of people who represent diverse interests, such as economic-development officials, environmentalists and utility executives. Their job was to meet separately and come up with recommendations for the task force in each area. Their deadline to make recommendations is today, May 19. A boiled-down version of what was decided on the first and third committees follows; the second, on grid modernization, deferred any final word, noting that such an important issue merits further study.

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Clean energy sources and technologies focused on five (highly technical) subjects:

  1. Renewable portfolio standards, the legally mandated amount of the state’s energy that should come from renewable sources. The committee recommended raising our current standard of 25 percent and making other changes — so credits are easier to trade among states, for instance.
  2. Integrated resource planning, the periodic process that determines how utilities map future development. The committee recommended reforming IRP guidelines to prioritize energy efficiency and low-carbon energy sources.
  3. Decoupling, an arcane formula that separates the utility’s profit motive from energy sales. “I’m the chair of the committee, and I’m not even sure I know exactly how it works,” says Kyle Davis, a conservation consultant. “Basically, it’s a financial incentive for efficiency.”
  4. Property-assessed clean energy, or PACE, which is a way for municipalities to set up their own efficiency and renewable energy programs and pay them off through property taxes.
  5. Low-income weatherization, seen as way to level the energy playing field between affluent homeowners, who can afford solar arrays and pool covers, and the poor, who are stuck with inefficient appliances and leaky houses.

 
Distributed generation and storage – the committee that rooftop solar customers (and wannabe customers) were watching like hawks – made only one recommendation, but it’s a doozy: Grandfather customers who bought their rooftop solar arrays before December 31, 2015, into the new system under their pre-existing deals for 25 years.

On KNPR’s State of Nevada this morning, Kevin Geraghty, senior vice president of energy supply for NV Energy, characterized the recommendation as closing the rooftop solar discussion: “We believe customers should be grandfathered; that’s what we asked for in statements to the PUC,” he says. “We’re glad to get that behind us. … There’s a lot of other important issues to be talking about.”

Chandler Sherman, the deputy campaign manager of Bring Back Solar, which is behind a ballot initiative to repeal the rate hikes that the PUC imposed on rooftop solar in December, is also pleased with the grandfathering recommendation, but feels the fight is far from over. “Our work and focus will still be on bringing back the solar industry,” she says. “It’s important to protect existing customers, but no one can move forward until the new rules are fixed.”

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The ball is now back in the task force’s court. It will mull committee recommendations and work with the governor's energy advisor to craft related bill draft requests for the 2017 legislative session by June 1. The governor's guidance is broad: “This task force will work with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection and other stakeholders to determine the best path forward for our state, a uniquely Nevadan solution that balances energy efficiency, economic development and environmental stewardship,” Sandoval says in his February announcement about the task force’s creation.

For a preview of what the task force will do, listen to what member and state senator Pat Spearman said on State of Nevada last week: “What I’m hoping will happen as a result of this during the next legislative session (is), we will be able to develop policy, procedures and other norms … that will allow us to have the peaceful coexistence of renewables as well as incumbent energy sources.”

And June 1 won't be the end of new energy, so to speak. Over the summer, recommendations that didn't make it into bill draft requests will be considered for other types of action and implementation. They'll go to the governor by September 30. 

 

Desert Companion welcomed Heidi Kyser as staff writer in January 2014. In 2018, she was promoted to senior writer and producer, working for both DC and KNPR's State of Nevada. She produced KNPR’s first podcast, the Edward R. Murrow Regional Award-winning Native Nevada, in 2020. The following year, she returned her focus full-time to Desert Companion, becoming Deputy Editor, which meant she was next in line to take over when longtime editor Andrew Kiraly left in July 2022. In 2024, Interim CEO Favian Perez promoted Heidi to managing editor, charged with integrating the Desert Companion and State of Nevada newsroom operations.