Partnership to build planned power facilities

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - A New Jersey-based energy company announced recently that it formed a partnership to build a planned coal-fired plant and wind farm near Ely and a 250-mile transmission line to bring the power to Southern Nevada.

LS Power Associates of East Brunswick, N.J., earlier reported plans to build the 1,600-megawatt White Pine Energy Station and the transmission line.

The coal-fired plant and wind farm will be within a few miles of each other in the Egan Mountain Range, about 30 miles north of Ely. Both power plants will be able to use the proposed Southwest Intertie Project, a 500-kilovolt transmission line that will deliver power to the Las Vegas area. The transmission line also will tie into Sierra Pacific's Falcon Gonder line at Robinson Summit.

Tim Carlson, managing partner of Nevada Wind, has entered into a previously reported contract to provide 50 megawatts of wind power to Nevada Power. However, its partnership in the combined $2 billion venture is new, and the partners expanded the size of the wind farm to 200 megawatts.

The merchant power plant developers hope to enter long-term contracts with Nevada Power Co. of Las Vegas or Sierra Pacific Power Co. of Reno, but the power could be sold to utilities in neighboring states, said Paul Thessen, executive vice president of LS Power Development.

The coal-fired generation plant would provide the utilities with potentially cheaper power than they get from power plants that rely on increasingly pricey natural gas.

Wind power is another way to diversify the utilities' fuel sources at competitive prices and would help the utilities satisfy state-ordered minimum requirements for renewable power.

Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of environmental group Citizen Alert, expressed mixed feelings. "I'm disappointed that we're looking at coal, but I'm incredibly excited that Tim's wind turbine project is going forward. If being a partner (with LS Power) enables that (wind project), that's a good thing."

The partners drew support from Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Building a transmission link between Northern and Southern Nevada will improve reliability and provide other energy benefits for years to come," Guinn said. "The coal project will provide fuel diversity and low-cost energy in a way that protects the environment."

Reid called it a "unique pairing of resources bringing renewable energy and clean coal energy together to create jobs in rural Nevada."

Four years of construction would bring an average of 800 jobs a year, and 125 permanent jobs would be created after the plant is complete, Thessen said.

The wind farm would provide an average of 175 jobs over a year, with 30 permanent jobs after completion.

The city of Ely plans to renovate an existing rail line that could be used to deliver coal from the Powder River Basin of Wyoming to the power plant, Thessen said.

"The majority of folks locally (in Ely) support this thing hands down," Thessen said.

He described the plant as a modern facility that will have the latest pollution reduction equipment.

He hopes to start operating the first 500-megawatt unit of the 1,600-megawatt coal-fired power plant by 2010. The wind project could be completed by 2008.

LS Power has financing for its development work and expects to get more funds for the project after Nevada utilities enter into a contract to buy power from the plants.

The company has an option agreement with Idaho Power for right of way on federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, but it needs to win approval of an environmental study for the wind farm. LS Power hopes to start construction of the transmission line in the second half of 2006 and complete the line within 18 months.