Nevada Power Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nevada Power Company is a Las Vegas-based company that produces, distributes and sells electricity in southern portion of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of 2005, Nevada Power had over 700,000 electric customers in parts of three Nevada counties creating a service area of more than 4,000 square miles. The company is currently a subsidiary of Sierra Pacific Resources.
Contents |
[edit] History
Nevada Power, and its predecessor companies, have been serving Las Vegas since March 20, 1906, the year following the creation of that town. The first company, Consolidated Power and Telephone operated until 1929 when it was split into Southern Nevada Power Company, which became Nevada Power, and Southern Nevada Telephone Company, which eventually became a part of Sprint, later spun off into Embarq.
After the acquisition of Elko-Lamoille Power Company in 1961 the company changed its name to Nevada Power Company and became the first Nevada company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nevada Power held off on building new plants and was looking to divest its existing plants based on Nevada's deregulation of power generation and distribution. However after the energy crisis in 2001, the deregulation was put on hold and Nevada Power resumed pursuing options to generate more of its own power.
In 2003 the company installed two of the largest phase shifting transformers in the world at its Crystal switching station to deal with the large quantity of imported power.
As a part of the plan to internally generate more of its power, Nevada Power in October, 2004 purchased from Duke Energy North America a partially competed 1,200 megawatt plant. Plans were announced on June 21, 2005 to purchase from Pinnacle West Capital Corporation its 75% interest in a 570 megawatt plant. The other 25% share is owned by the Southern Nevada Water Authority.
In January, 2006, Nevada Power announced plans to decommission units 1, 2, and 3 at the Clark Station which provide a total of 175 MW of power.
[edit] Power plants
In the early years, power was generated by the company. However, in 1914 the company contracted to purchase power from other companies. This practice continued until the 1950s when the company again started running power plants to provide a portion of its base supply.
- Current plants include:
- Base plants
- Wholly owned
- Harry Allen (76 megawatts), in 2006 a 100 kW solar photovoltaic system will be added.
- Reid Gardner (590 megawatts)
- Clark Station (815 megawatts - 10 units). In January of 2005, plans announced to shut down units 1, 2 and 3. Opened in February 1956 was a 32 megawatt plant. A 75 kW (3-25 kW arrays) high concentrating solar photovoltaic system was added in 2006.
- Chuck Lenzie (1,200 megawatts - 4 natural gas fired units)
- Sunrise/Sun Peak (390 megawatts)
- Partial ownership
Mohave Generating Station, Laughlin, Nevada- Mohave Power Station (1,580 megawatts, 222 megawatts Nevada power's share, coal fired) (Shut down on December 31, 2005 with the possibility it may not reopen)
- Silverhawk Power Station (570 megawatt, 427.5 megawatts Nevada Power's 75% share, natural gas fired)
- Wholly owned
- Peaking plants
- Harry Allen (80 megawatts) in planning
- Base plants
- Other major sources
- Hoover Dam provides about 355 megawatts to the Nevada Power system. Contrary to popular opinion, Las Vegas does not get most of its power from the dam. It also does not get most of the power produced at the dam. California and Arizona get most of the dam's generated power.
[edit] Power transmission
Several generating stations are located in Nevada Power's service area. In addition, Nevada power historically imported a large portion of its power from other areas. As a result, the company's main transmission lines both serve its customers and provide inter-company power transport services.
- Major power lines:
- 500 kV
- Major switch yards
- Mead Substation
- Crystal Substation
[edit] Regional Transmission Organizations
Nevada Power is a member of the Regional Transmission Organization RTO West, formally known as "Grid West" [1].
