Nevada

Nevada put big battery energy storage where a coal plant used to be

Published

3 weeks ago

April 29, 2024

Nevada put big battery energy storage where a coal plant used to be

Nevada utility NV Energy’s largest battery energy storage system sits on a former coal-fired power plant site and will save customers a lot of money.

Swiss-US battery energy storage specialist Energy Vault (NYSE: NRGV) built the 220 MW/440 MWh grid-tied Reid Gardner Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Moapa, Nevada, 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Energy Vault will maintain the system.

The new BESS is on the site of the former 557-megawatt (MW) coal-fired Reid Gardner Generating Station, which was demolished in 2019.

It’s a two-hour energy storage system that stores and dispatches excess wind and solar power. It’s charged and discharged daily and dispatches stored renewable energy at peak consumption hours to help meet demand.

NV Energy CEO Dough Cannon explained to local TV network KTNV:

The hours that [NV Energy] really get concerned about are from about 5 pm to 9 pm. Because what happens, at that point, is the solar energy has really started to ramp off as the sun’s going down. And so, we have often had to go out to the market, the energy market, and buy energy to meet the needs between 5 pm and 9 pm.
Over the last couple of years, on average, we’ve paid $250 a unit of energy during those hours. We look at a project like this, and this can deliver energy for closer to $100 an hour a unit of energy.

The Inflation Reduction Act covered 40% of the project’s $250 million cost. Cannon told KTNV that thanks to the new BESS, the utility’s customers would see a 15-20% reduction in their bills by the end of 2024.

Read more: US, other G7 countries to phase out coal by early 2030s

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Nevada

Nevada State Contractors Board launches new unit for solar investigations

Published

45 mins ago

May 17, 2024

Press Room

Nevada State Contractors Board launches new unit for solar investigations

RENO, Nev. (KOLO) – The Nevada State Contractors Board has launched a new, specialized Solar Investigations Unit.

The primary use of the board will be to target solar companies with complaints involving theft, fraud, abandonment, diversion of funds, and unlicensed contracting.

“Of the 3,000 complaints the Board receives annually, nearly one-third are homeowner complaints about solar companies,” said Nevada State Contractors Board Executive Officer Margi Grein. “Complaints include misleading sales tactics with promised benefits such as rebates, government incentives, and the complete eradication of electric bills.”

The State Contractor’s Board says it has already been holding meetings with companies they say have harmed homeowners and have been pursuing criminal investigations against certain people.

In April of this year, the board worked with law enforcement to capture and arrest Lifetime Solar company contractor Derrick Carbajal. Authorities say Carbajal stole nearly $250,000 from elderly homeowners over the last two years without performing work.

The new unit is now partnering with prosecutorial agencies from around Nevada and will meet with representatives from a variety of other state agencies and regulatory bodies.

“We are sending a message to the residential solar industry that protecting consumers is at the forefront of our mission and we will take whatever measures are necessary to continue protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public,” said Grein.

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Nevada

Massive Swarm of Mormon Crickets Invades Northern Nevada

Published

8 hours ago

May 17, 2024

Press Room

Massive Swarm of Mormon Crickets Invades Northern Nevada

A swarm of Mormon crickets invaded a small town in northern Nevada on Tuesday, May 14, blanketing roads and fences, footage shows. Video filmed and posted to TikTok by resident Kyra Adams shows thousands of Mormon crickets hopping and crawling along a roadway and fence in Spring Creek. “They cover our homes, buildings, and when run over will bloody our roads and leave a horrible smell from sitting in the hot summer sun!” Adams told Storyful. According to the University of Nevada, Reno, drought conditions encourage Mormon cricket outbreaks. The California-Nevada region recently entered its dry season, which typically lasts from May to September. “In large numbers, their feeding can contribute to soil erosion, poor water quality, nutrient depleted soils, and potentially cause damage to range and cropland ecosystems,” the university said. Credit: Kyra Adams via Storyful

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Nevada

Trip Report: 11,161' Mt. Scowden's “Dog Leg Chute” | Sierra Nevada Mountains, CA – SnowBrains

Published

15 hours ago

May 16, 2024

Press Room

Trip Report: 11,161' Mt. Scowden's “Dog Leg Chute” | Sierra Nevada Mountains, CA – SnowBrains

Report from May 15, 2024

Yesterday we went back to Lundy Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains of California hoping to find more corn as we did in that zone 2 days prior.

We chose one of the north-facing couloirs off Scowden but it looked beat up with old wet slides.

We then bumped over to the “Dog Leg Chute” and started grinding.

Summit (actually just the top of the snow in the chute): 10,900 feet
Car: 8,100 feet
Vertical From Car: 2,800 feet
Vertical skied: 2,800 feet
Max Pitch: 38º
Average Pitch: 35º
Aspect: North then northeast
Distance: 2.9-miles round trip
Time From Car to Summit: 2 hours and 55 minutes
Car to Car Time: 4 hours and 28 minutes
Recommended Equipment: skins, crampons, ice axe x2

The first move is a 10 outta 10 bushwhack/creek crossing.

I’d found a pretty clean line through this zone when we were here on May 6 and it delivered.

We got through the madness in only 10 minutes.

It’s so bad in there you mostly have to walk on fallen trees to keep yourself up off the ground and the insanity below.

From there it was a bit of rock walking to get on snow.

Skins and Lee took the lead.

About halfway up the Dog Leg Chute, we switched to crampons.

The snow was already deep and sticky.

It hadn’t frozen the night before…

Dog Leg Chute on Mt. Scowden, CA. image: snowbrains

Or the night before that.

We slogged up in the deep slush and finally escaped the chute after a long grind.

A hard left took us onto the upper apron that leads to the summit.

Fox took the lead for the first half of this.

The snow continued deep and manky.

Lee took over for the last pitch and we topped out after 2 hours and 55 minutes.

We took a healthy break and dropped in before things got any mankier.

The upper section skied well.

Proper corn.

The lower part of the apron got a bit sticky.

Things improved entered the chute before the thing changed aspects to the east.

Once in the true northeast-facing part of the chute, it got so sticky.

The key was to be last and stay right in the other people’s tracks.

That’s what I did…

The final reward was a neat rock-lined chute at the very bottom that took us directly to the creek.

From there it was a bit of a bushwhack to get to the bushwhack that crosses the creek.

Back at the car after 4 hours and 28 minutes.

We zipped directly back to Mammoth hoping for “The Rolling Chef” burritos but the closed on us and we pivoted to “Latin Market” burritos that are always top notch.

Even when the snow is funky, the living is good here on the Eastside.

Thanks, California!