Sierra Pacific issues renewable RFPs

Sierra Pacific Resources is again looking for alternative energy sources.

Sierra Pacific Power and Nevada Power Co., the company's two power utilities serving northern and southern Nevada respectively, last week issued requests for proposal for energy generated by renewable fuel sources.

The RFPs follow contracts with six renewable energy providers the power companies signed late last year.

Those contracts, for a total of 277 megawatts of electricity, were approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada earlier this year.

The power companies are required by law to increase their use of renewable energy by 2 percent every other year until the provider's alternative energy portfolio equals 15 percent of its total energy sales by 2013.

The total for solar-generated power must be 5 percent of the total renewable energy portfolio.

Solar energy is harder to find and the separate requirement for it is designed to encourage its use, said Faye Andersen, spokeswoman for Sierra Pacific Resources in Reno.

The existing renewable energy contracts for seven projects meet the utilities' needs through 2006, and the RFPs issued last week are to solicit contracts to meet requirements through 2008, said Andersen..

Andersen said some of the same suppliers may respond to the current RFPs.

The seven existing contracts are with wind energy suppliers Desert Queen Wind Ltd.

Partnership, for two separate plants, and Ely Wind Co.

LLC; geothermal energy providers Advanced Thermal Systems, Earth Power Resources Inc.

and Ormat Nevada Inc.; and solar energy provider Solargenix, previously known as Duke Solar Energy LLC.

Advanced Thermal Systems, in Reno, is studying the RFP now and will decide in the next few weeks whether to respond to it, according to Shuman Moore, president.

"We certainly are investigating it and expect to respond, but we're still evaluating it at this point," said Moore.

Moore said most of the demand appears to be from Nevada Power, which serves the southern part of the state where there are far fewer geothermal sites.

The company is now looking at a couple of potential sites, said Moore, to see if it can meet those needs.

Responses to the RFPs are due August 18.