Nevada Legislature Passes SB 123
The Nevada legislature passed SB 123 , which will ultimately shut down the Reid Gardner coal plant and provide relief for the Moapa Band of Paiutes living next to the facility. The bill also likely locks Nevada into natural gas investments, however. Although amended since the last time I reviewed the text, the bill that passed the legislature yesterday still requires 550 MW of energy from "other electrical generating plants," in addition to the 350 MW of new renewable energy generation required by the bill. That 550 MW is likely to be generated by new natural gas facilities, and previous iterations of the bill made it clear that the "other electrical" generation would be natural gas. It is not a surprise that this passed with bi-partisan support in Nevada given that this bill is a win-win situation for industry. The bill provides Nevada utilities with a fresh excuse to invest in more infrastructure to support its central station model, including natur...