Nevada Legislature: Solar energy policies sought

CARSON CITY " Lobbyists asked lawmakers on Thursday to adopt policies favoring tax credits, rebates and other incentives that will encourage solar energy development in Nevada.

The incentives, also including net metering so solar energy users can get credit for excess power they generate, were recommended to the Senate Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation Committee by members of Solar Alliance, a national group of solar manufacturers and financiers.

The alliance representatives also advocated fair, straightforward rules for connecting solar energy equipment to energy grids and solar-friendly utility rates.

Julia Curtis of Sharp Electronics said the policies could "present a landscape of opportunities" by helping to create 5,200 or more jobs a year for Nevadans. She said a solar-energy workforce would include people with many educational backgrounds and skill levels and wide-ranging salary levels.

Other benefits of such policies mentioned by Curtis included consumer protection from volatile costs of limited fossil fuels, financial support for solar energy in the form of federal stimulus dollars and an alignment of the state's efforts with renewable energy plans touted by President Barack Obama and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Nevada's ability to produce solar energy thanks to its sunny climate coupled with falling costs of installing and using solar energy give the state "a huge opportunity to be a net exporter of renewable energy," Curtis added.

Sen. Barbara Cegavske, R-Las Vegas, said the high cost of solar energy systems for consumers is a "huge issue." She asked the lobbyists to provide more details on costs, solar-related job possibilities, training requirements and other information, adding that she'd use the materials when meeting with constituents.

"I want something that I could basically sit down in my cul-de-sac and tell my neighbors this is what it would be," Cegavske said.

Before she makes a decision, Cegavske added that she wants to know as much as possible about what the Solar Alliance representatives are proposing, especially in light of other renewable-energy groups also asking for federal stimulus funds.

"You know, you're not the only renewable energy person that's come to us saying, 'I want this stimulus money,"' Cegavske told Rose McKinney James of Energy Works in Las Vegas.

Carrie Cullen Hitt, Solar Alliance president, said that companies in Solar Alliance and the U.S. solar energy industry at large have an interest in favorable solar energy policies.

"They're all for-profit companies, and while there is a lot of social policy involved here and public good policy for renewables, environmental aspects and everything, it's a business," Hitt said.

"So what's at stake is people want to see the U.S. market, which could be one of the largest solar energy markets in the world, expand and grow."