Transmission Infrastructure and Collaboration

The One Nevada Transmission Line (ON Line) will be an important element to meeting Nevada's renewable energy needs. Without this transmission line and other improvements to our grid infrastructure, much of Nevada's undeveloped renewable energy has little hope of making its way to customer homes. That would mean Nevada's great renewable potential would remain vastly underutilized, and thus a key green technology industry would have less of an economic impact for our state.

Nevada's energy landscape is very similar to that of other states, where renewable resources have been developed in clusters. In Nevada, NV Energy customers in the north region of the state have benefitted from a grouping of geothermal energy resources since the 1980s. Recent additions of new, efficient natural gas-fired power facilities in northern Nevada have made the area energy self-sufficient. This region no longer has a need for more geothermal power, despite estimates of up to 2,000 additional megawatts of untapped geothermal opportunities.

This powerful renewable energy resource needs access to southern Nevada, which is not yet energy self-sufficient and where the energy requirements in the summer are more than three times that of our northern service territory. Likewise, southern Nevada's abundant solar resources and traditional generation can't be sent north to help diversify that portfolio, especially during the cold winter months when electricity demand is high. And, we have wind resources in northern and eastern Nevada that remain stranded without the presence of a transmission path to our population centers.

ON Line will electrically connect NV Energy's northern and southern service territories for the first time. Doing so will allow both territories to benefit from diverse renewable energy sources when they need it most throughout the year.

This challenge to develop critical transmission infrastructure is not unique to Nevada. It is being faced in regions throughout the country. The limits of the current transmission systems in the New England states, as well as Idaho, Texas, California, Oregon and New Mexico, are impacting the development of renewable energy.

The development of needed transmission capacity is a complicated issue, but one that must be addressed if we are to maximize our use of renewable energy resources. Given that these resources typically stretch across multiple local, state and federal jurisdictions, the most viable means of addressing the need for additional transmission should be through thoughtful and committed collaboration. While renewable energy developers, local utilities, federal agencies, state regulators and elected officials may have separate vested interests, all can share in the related benefits of such projects.

ON Line is a joint development of NV Energy and LS Power and is a great example of how collaboration can lead to success. This renewable energy lifeline represents a unified effort on the part of investor-owned companies and elected officials, as well as other key stakeholders in many local, state and national jurisdictions.

Our ON Line groundbreaking celebration in October included U.S. Senator Harry Reid and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, as well as officials from the U.S. Energy Department, the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada and state lawmakers. Without their involvement, this project could have been significantly delayed and valuable strategic energy resources would have been left untapped. NV Energy has agreements for about 250 MW of wind capacity and 200 MW of solar capacity that require the successful completion of the ON Line project.

Construction of the line will bring approximately 400 jobs to our state's economy. That number is over and above the jobs created by the specific development of additional renewable energy projects. The new transmission line is expected to be in service by the end of 2012, opening the path for renewable energy to be developed and transmitted to where it is so desperately needed.

Our energy future in Nevada has never been more promising and we're grateful for the widespread support we have for projects like ON Line. The most important renewable energy development in Nevada is being generated by something even more powerful than sun, wind or water: it's being generated by the power of collaboration.