No sale: Why Chinese solar power company couldn’t find a buyer

Before last year’s National Clean Energy Summit 5.0 at the Bellagio, Harry Reid promoted the confab in a live-streaming Facebook public appearance with questions via Twitter. During the session he was asked about the status of the ENN Solar project near Laughlin. He immediately dumped on the state’s publicly regulated power company.

“That would start tomorrow if NV Energy would purchase the power. …” he said. “NV Energy could do that. It would be so good for Nevada. … But NV Energy is more interested in other types of power and they don’t control the facility. So we’re working hard. I would hope NV Energy would be willing to do this. They haven’t been willing to work on this and that’s such a shame.”

Though he was mumbling a bit by this point, he seemed to imply that the Public Utility Commission was reluctant to move on the project either.

He later flatly stated, “The biggest obstacle we have to renewable energy is NV Energy.” His moderator chuckled and moved on to the next question.

Asked for a response, NV Energy replied that it already exceeded its legislatively mandated renewable energy purchases by 10 percent and had no plans to seek further renewable power supplies until 2014.

Actually, the company really doesn’t need more power, “green” or otherwise. NV Energy projects it will sell 2.1 percent less electricity this year than last, and its projections are for power sales to increase about 1 percent a year or less.

So, it was hardly surprising this week that ENN Energy was canceling its deal to buy 9,000 acres of county land because it could not find a buyer for the solar power it planned to generate there. (Reid was in the backroom when that deal was cut.) Harry’s son Rory has already been paid for his services to ENN, I’m sure.

The county press release said:

“ENN Mojave Energy representatives informed the County today that they could not obtain ‘power purchase agreements’ (PPAs) with utility companies within necessary contract deadlines, thus triggering an automatic termination of an agreement to create a solar power generation, manufacturing and research facility on 9,000 acres in southern Clark County.”

If it weren’t for Senate Bill 123, which prematurely shuts down adequately clean coal plants to build natural gas-fired and “green” generators that will add to the company’s equity and increase it’s 10.5 percent return on equity, NV Energy might not need to add any more capacity for a couple of years.

Guess who will get to pay for it. Hint: Look in the mirror.