Presidential transition can’t stop solar, officials say
PRIMM — The nation’s growing renewable energy sector won’t be derailed by the transition to a new, seemingly less favorable presidential administration.
That was the underlying message Thursday at a ceremony celebrating the completion of Nevada’s newest and largest solar power station.
The 250-megawatt Silver State South Solar Energy Center is now generating electricity on 2,500 acres of federal land about 50 miles south of Las Vegas, not far from where Interstate 15 crosses into California.
Standing near a row of photo-voltaic panels, U.S. Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze said the project is part of a “structural shift in the market” toward solar, wind and geothermal development.
“I think the progress is irreversible,” Kornze said. “We’ve found a way to grow our economy and reduce our emissions at the same time.”
Solar advocates agree.
Dan Whitten is vice president of communications for the Solar Energy Industries Association, a national trade group. Before Thursday’s ceremony, he said the business case for solar in particular — from the money being invested in it to jobs it creates — is so strong now “there would be no reason any administration would want to step on that.”
“The market is going to drive what energy resources are going to thrive. Right now the market is not working in coal’s favor, and it is working in favor of solar,” Whitten said. “We’re pretty confident this train is going to keep moving forward.”
Silver State South is owned and operated by Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources. Southern California Edison is buying the power from the array, which is enough to supply up to 80,000 homes — at least during the day.
The facility was built by First Solar Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, which just finished work on another 250-megawatt solar power plant on the Moapa Paiute Indian Reservation along I-15 about 35 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
That facility became fully operational a week ago. It is the first commercial solar plant to be constructed on tribal land.
First Solar is also building a 180-megawatt solar plant near Apex that will supply power to data-center giant Switch by way of NV Energy.
“With each project you do, you learn a bit more and you have a better-trained workforce,” said Tymen deJong, First Solar’s chief operating officer.
Silver State South surrounds an existing, 600-acre field of solar panels known as Silver State North, which went online in 2012 as the nation’s first large-scale solar power plant built on public land. That 50-megawatt facility — also built by First Solar and owned by NextEra — sells its power to NV Energy, which mostly uses it to supply customers in the Las Vegas Valley.
Kornze had been to the site outside Primm before. In 2014, he took part in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Silver State South project.
A lot has changed since then.
In the past month alone, voters elected a president who once described climate change as a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. And on Wednesday, the president-elect unveiled his choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency: fossil fuel industry ally Scott Pruitt, who as Oklahoma attorney general actively fought against the EPA and the Obama Administration’s push for environmental regulations and clean energy investment.
But Kornze said the trajectory of renewable energy is “clear, demonstrated and unstoppable.”
Over the past eight years, the nation’s wind power output has tripled and its solar output has increased 30 fold, he said. Two thirds of the energy capacity that came online in the U.S. last year was wind and solar.
“My son turns one tomorrow,” Kornze said with emotion in his voice, “and I’m excited to be able to share this great news with him.”
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @RefriedBrean on Twitter.
