Nevada
Pahrump electric co-op set to receive $80.3M for solar project • Nevada Current
A local power cooperative in Pahrump was awarded an $80.3 million federal loan for a solar project that would produce enough electricity to power 3,500 homes in the Pahrump and the Fish Lake Valley region.
On Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to invest $140 million for solar in rural communities in Kentucky and Nevada. Investment funds for the projects were sourced from the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Valley Electric Association, an energy cooperative based in Pahrump, plans to use its $80.3 million investment to install a 37-megawatt solar power generation and storage system that would serve a portion of their 20,100 members in Pahrump and the Fish Lake Valley region.
Valley Electric Association was selected for the investment after committing to lower electricity rates for their members while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The project is also expected to strengthen the energy grid and keep critical services powered in the region.
“We put a lot of effort into rural development with these new Inflation Reduction Act investments in making sure that it is reaching the hardest to reach places and communities that are often underserved,” USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small said.
In Nye County, home to the growing city of Pahrump, up to 40% of the population has three or more socioeconomic risk factors – high poverty rates, age, and low educational attainment, for example – that would make it difficult for them to absorb, endure, and recover from climate disasters, according to the Fifth National Climate Assessment — a congressionally mandated report due roughly every five years
“Rural people deserve continued energy opportunities as demand for clean energy increases,” Torres Small said. “The Biden-Harris Administration is working to make sure efforts to tackle climate change also help grow the local economy.”
The solar project is still in the initial stages of permitting, meaning it may take years for construction to start.
Valley Electric Association is one of approximately 900 member-owned electric cooperatives in the U.S., according to the power company. Valley Electric serves communities participating in the Rural Partners Network (RPN), a USDA-led collaboration between federal, state and local partners to help underserved communities access federal funding.
Both the projects selected in Kentucky and Nevada are part of the USDA’s Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program, the largest investment in rural electrification since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act into law in 1936, according to the agency.
So far, USDA has announced more than $665 million of investments selected to proceed under the PACE program. The investment for Valley Electric Association marks the first project funded under the program in Nevada. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kentucky, and Nebraska have already received investments.
Last year, the USDA made $1 billion available through PACE to fund new clean energy projects and energy storage in rural America. The program provides low-interest loans with up to 60% loan forgiveness to renewable energy developers, rural electric cooperatives and other rural energy providers for renewable energy storage and projects that use wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and biomass.
Nye County officials, including in Pahrump, have expressed some reluctance to embrace utility-scale solar projects.
Pahrump, the county’s most populous town, has been plagued by declining groundwater levels with domestic well failures increasing annually, according to county officials. Nye County officials expressed concern that cumulative solar development in the basin would only worsen the county’s water woes.
However, the county is also the site of some of the largest planned solar projects in the state, including the 2,250 megawatt Chill Sun Solar Project along the U.S.95, and the 700 megawatt Copper Rays Solar Project southwest of Pahrump.
Nevada
Tahoe man loses $20K at Nevada casino and threatens to bomb facility before arrest, police say
Nevada
2025 worst year for home sales in Southern Nevada since 2007, report says
Home prices in Southern Nevada dropped from record highs to end 2025 and less homes sold last year compared with 2024.
Approximately 28,498 existing homes sold in the region last year, which is down almost 9 percent from the 31,305 homes that sold in 2024, according to trade association Las Vegas Realtors, which pulls its data from the Multiple Listing Service. This is the lowest number of homes sold in a year in Southern Nevada since 2007 right before the Great Recession.
The median sale price for a house sold in Southern Nevada in December was approximately $470,000, a 3.9 percent drop from November, according to LVR. By the end of December, LVR reported 6,396 single-family homes listed for sale without any sort of offer. That’s up 28.8 percent from one year earlier.
Despite a down year in sales, the local market did end on a high note.
George Kypreos, president of Las Vegas Realtors, said he is optimistic the housing market could turn around this year. The LVR report noted that home sales in Southern Nevada have seen “peaks and valleys” in recent years, generally declining since 2021 when a record 50,010 properties sold.
“Although it was a relatively slow year for home sales, we’re seeing some encouraging signs heading into the new year,” said Kypreos in a statement. “Buyer activity locally and nationally is starting to improve. Home prices have been fairly stable, and mortgage interest rates ended the year lower than they were the previous year. Most trends are pointing to a more balanced housing market in 2026.”
Freddie Mac currently has the average price for a 30-year fixed-term mortgage rate at 6.1 percent. That mortgage rate has not gone below 6 percent since 2022.
The all-time high median home sale price in Southern Nevada was broken multiple times last year, and currently sits at $488,995 which was last set in November while the condo and townhome market has dropped substantially from an all-time high that was set in October of 2024 ($315,000) to $275,000 to end 2025.
Major residential real estate brokerages are mixed as to where the market will head this year as Zillow, Redfin and Realtor.com have all put out their 2026 projections, and they expect a similar market to 2025. Mortgage rates aren’t expected to drop enough next year to unlock the country’s housing market, new builds will continue to lag, and prices will remain relatively elevated.
Realtor.com said in its report that it predicts a “steadier” housing market next year and a slight shift to a more balanced market. Redfin’s report says 2026 will be the year of the “great housing reset,” which means the start of a yearslong period of “gradual increases in home sales and normalization of prices as affordability gradually improves.”
Finally, Zillow said the housing market should “warm up” in 2026 with “buyers seeing a bit more breathing room and sellers benefiting from price stability and more consistent demand.”
Contact Patrick Blennerhassett at pblennerhassett@reviewjournal.com.
Nevada
A snowmobiler dies after an avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada
TRUCKEE, Calif. — An avalanche in California’s Sierra Nevada on Monday buried a snowmobiler in snow and killed him, authorities said.
Rescuers responded after a 911 call around 2:20 p.m. reported a possible avalanche near Johnson Peak and Castle Peak in Truckee.
The snowmobiler was initially reported missing but then was found under the snow several minutes later, the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
Fellow recreationists found him but he didn’t survive despite lifesaving efforts, according to the statement.
Emergency personnel were working to safely extract the victim late Monday and to confirm no others were buried.
The sheriff’s office said more avalanches could occur and recommended that people avoid the area.
Each winter, 25 to 30 people die in avalanches in the U.S., according to the National Avalanche Center. The center’s current map shows high risk spots in Utah and Washington and areas of considerable risk in California, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.
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