City looks to renewable energy opportunities

Many things have been said about the strong gusts that whip up bad hair days and dust in the Carson City area, but city leaders are now looking to natural elements like wind to recharge the local economy.

Carson City officials already have heard from more than 30 renewable energy providers since advertising nationally for ideas on how to turn the wind, sun and elements into renewable energy possibilities.

By buying renewable, or "green," energy for water and sewer operations, the city is hoping to attract the industry to the area, along with support businesses that would boost jobs, said Ken Arnold, environmental manager for the city.

A work group made up of community and city members has been established to lead the effort.

"Our goal is to make Carson City known as a manufacturing and research center for renewable energy," said Charlie Long, a consultant to the city and coordinator of the work group. "Nevada itself has huge potential for renewable energy."

The city began soliciting nationally Jan. 30 to find companies interested in producing energy from solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, bioenergy and landfill gas as potential renewable energy sources in the city.

With surrounding resources like forest fuels that can be turned into energy, the abundance of sun and geothermal potential, which would require putting water into the ground and converting it to steam and energy, companies have several options, Long said.

"We're kind of pioneering here a little bit," Long said. "We don't know precisely what kind of responses we're going to get."

Long's work group was born out of the city's Economic Development Strategic Plan, a plan that local officials and leaders hope will revitalize Carson's economy at a time when retail sales tax revenues are lagging.

Long said the city is working with several potential partners who might also be interested in using renewable energy. Those include Carson-Tahoe Hospital, State of Nevada, Western Nevada Community College, Churchill County, Washoe County, Washoe Regional Transportation Commission and Carson City School District. The total energy load could be as high as 12 megawatts, Long said.

Mike Mitchell, director of operations for the Carson City School District, said he would be interested in finding ways to provide clean, green power to school buildings, if the price was right.

Mitchell was hoping to include a plan to use renewable energy in the Bordewich-Bray school building that is currently being designed, but construction plans may be too far along. Still, existing buildings could be retrofitted if a provider was found.

"We would be interested in being a partner if it doesn't end up costing us money," Mitchell said. "We're very interested and excited about any type of partnership that we could build with them."

Does renewable energy mean the city would save money? Maybe not.

"The cost savings remains to be seen," Long said. The piping and systems are extremely complicated. The city estimates it spent $1.5 million to provide energy to its water and sewer treatment facilities last year.

Also, the partners would have to buy their way out of the Sierra Pacific Power Co. and create their own power entity. State law allows the power company to charge larger customers a fee for withdrawing from service if it places additional costs on other customers who remain in the system.

The deadline for companies to complete the Request for Qualifications and Ideas is March 28. The work group plan to present the proposals to the city's Board of Supervisors June 19 for a decision.

Once a company is selected, the committee will then ask for a more detailed map and plan on the specifics of providing the area with energy.

The city's Request for Qualifications document can be found on www.demandstaf.com or by contacting DmandStar.com by Onvia at (800) 711-1712.