Harry Reid: Reid Discusses National Renewable Portfolio Standard

Nevada can lead the nation in clean, renewable energy production

June 13, 2007 -- Washington, DC — Speaking at an event on the Democratic energy bill, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada spoke out about the need for a national Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for the production of electricity. An RPS, already law in 22 states, including Nevada, requires utilities to supply a specific percentage of electricity from renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, biomass and geothermal.

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“Nevada has some of the nation’s must abundant resources for solar, geothermal, and wind power,” said Reid. “For instance, if we were to develop the solar resources of just 90 square miles of Nevada we could have the power requirements of the entire nation. It is time we take advantage of the renewable resources in Nevada and across the rest of the county because we have to become more energy independent.”

At the event with Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), Reid said he supported Bingaman’s plan to offer an RPS amendment as part of the energy legislation that currently is being debated in the Senate. Bingaman’s plan would create a renewables standard of 15 percent by 2020.

Nevada enacted its renewable portfolio standard in 1997. Nevada’s RPS goal is to produce 20 percent of its energy from renewable energy by 2015.

Since Nevada is already ahead of the nation, a national RPS with credit trading would allow for the export of renewable energy credits for sale across the country which would help reduce the price of electricity in Nevada.

Nevada would also benefit from a federal RPS because aggressively promoting renewable energy like solar, wind, and geothermal will save millions of gallons of water every year that would otherwise be used by traditional fossil fuel plants.

Source: Senator Harry Reid