The Nevada Senate is now considering AB 405, including the issue of net metering, following the passage of the bill in the Assembly last week. However, NV Energy is pushing back, arguing against the principle of retail-rate net metering.
“Assembly Bill 405 requires NV Energy to purchase excess energy from private solar generation systems at legislatively mandated pricing, not a price set by a market,” the utility stated in a presentation to the Senate.
“The total cost obligation created by existing private solar generation coupled with the proposed private solar generation additions in Assembly Bill 405…is $63.3 million annually or approximately $1.3 billion over the minimum 20 year term specified in the bill,” NV Energy estimated.
The utility complained that while it is now contracting for solar energy at a cost as low as $31 per megawatt, “NV Energy currently gives a credit to grandfathered residential customers of over $110 per megawatt hour for energy from a private generation system in southern Nevada.”
NV Energy also complained that “Customers with private solar generation are allowed to receive electric services at below cost rates…For example, a customer with private solar generation uses the electric grid as a place to deliver the excess energy produced by their solar panels and also gets to rely on the electric grid to back up the private solar generation whenever they do not have enough energy being produced.”
NV Energy currently has 479 MW of solar generation in development in Nevada, which helps it meet the state’s 2015-2019 Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirement of 20%. In its 2016 RPS Annual Report, NV Energy said that its northern Nevada network had reached a 26.6% renewable energy generation, while its southern Nevada network achieved a 22.2% share of renewable energy in its mix.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
Let us be really clear. Two years ago, NV Energy cherry-picked half-truths and incomplete information to smear the solar industry. That… and a boatload of money destroyed the solar industry in a state that has little in the way of God-given resources except:
Gold (owned by out-of-state and foreign business)
and
Sunlight (struggling to stay out of the control of big business)
After quietly working behind the scenes to control the debate, NV Energy is back with huge numbers to put the solar industry in a bad light. I do not believe them.
It is irresponsible journalism to take their statement at face value. One of the essential elements of propaganda is the continual repetition of information that you wish people to believe. What part are you playing?
Thank you Richard! Well said!
Seriously? The number NV Energy give is merely lost revenue to them for not being able to sell electricity that is self generated by the homeowner. It is baseless and irrational.
If you want to look at a study that is cited and peer reviewed I’m happy to provide. Solar is a net benefit to all Nevadans.
It’s all in the way numbers are cooked, and including what biases your argument/ eliminating what doesn’t. That $1.3 billion represents a lost revenue figure as opposed to direct cost figure. Missing from the continuing reliance on the grid argument is that solar customers still pay for the energy they use and connection fees. Most egregious is the fresh PPA Crescent Dunes solar project contract. NV Energy has agreed to pay $0.135/ kWh for for 25 years (1). Crescent Dunes is expected to deliver 500GWh annually to NV Energy. Nevada had 129 Megawatts in private installations of rooftop solar in 2015 (2). The comparative crushing blow to NV Energy’s bottom line isn’t quite evident.
(Sources readily provided upon request)
Crescent Dunes includes storage, have some shame to compare it to rooftop PV solar that provides energy at noon only when there is already oversupply of it.
Noon is when the need for energy in Nevada blossoms. Peak energy times are 1pm-7pm. High times for solar generation to check this costly need.