State thinks big on solar powerAs competing states dawdle, Nevada adds incentives for construction(By Alexander Berzon via Las Vegas Sun)Charged with reworking the state’s renewable energy policy, Assemblywoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick had one major objective as she entered the legislative session: Don’t give away the farm, er, the desert.Kirkpatrick was criticized after the 2007 session for working to give lucrative tax breaks to casino companies in the guise of “green buildings.”She didn’t want a repeat.The North Las Vegas Democrat was operating in an environment that was at once friendlier and tougher than ever for renewable energy development.The concept of moving away from fossil fuels and toward solar and geothermal developments emerged over the past two years as an economic salve. You only had to hear the words of President Obama nationally and Sen. Harry Reid locally: “Green jobs” would transform the country and bring it out of recession, they argued. With plentiful sun and plentiful land and proximity to a state with a voracious appetite for renewable energy, Nevada should benefit, they said.But then came the state budget crisis.Bigger-than-ever tax cuts for renewable energy companies would be a tough sell.With the session now over and the state’s new energy policy in full view, it’s fair to ask: Just what was accomplished?The answer is: quite a lot.Observers say Nevada has made itself into the most attractive state in the sun-drenched West for large solar plant development. Utility-size solargeneration plants in the desert, along with geothermal plants, got a big boost this session.Jim Baak, director of utility-scale solar for the nonprofit advocacy group Vote Solar, said Nevada was far more proactive than other sunny-state legislatures this year. Texas called its legislative session the “Solar Session” but still wasn’t able to pass productive new laws, said Baak, who monitors solar issues in states. Florida became equally mired, he said.If some other objectives are met, large-scale solar is likely to become the focus of renewable energy development in Nevada for at least the short term, observers say. That should bring thousands of construction jobs to the state with built-in wage requirements. Large-scale solar plants tend to operate without a lot of employees once they’re up and running.Legislators had less to show in the way of providing incentives for homeowners and others to install rooftop solar devices and for the manufacturers of renewable energy equipment to build plants in Nevada. Both tend to have many permanent jobs associated with them.Among moves made this session intended to spur renewable energy, legislators:Extended and increased the portion of Nevada energy that must come from renewable resources from 20 percent by 2015 to 25 percent by 2025. That ensures an expanding appetite for renewable energy in the state.Extended property tax abatements for renewable energy production plants, which were to expire in this year, and expanded them from 50 percent for 10 years to 55 percent for 20 years.Allowed geothermal power plants to receive property tax abatements.Created a renewable energy commission and transferred many of the duties of the governor’s energy office to that body.Expanded the program that offers rebates for households and businesses that put solar panels on their rooftops and made changes in how the program is to be operated.Rose McKinney-James, a longtime solar energy advocate in Nevada who lobbied for rooftop solar companies this session, had hoped to enhance the incentives to install rooftop photovoltaic panels and other forms of so-called distributed energy generation. But the state’s main utility, NV Energy, fought back and said that a new requirement could cost ratepayers — and the company — too much.“We were having this discussion at a very difficult time,” McKinney-James said. “Everybody recognized that they faced some very significant challenge |