fbpx
Nevada Solar Policies And Updates In 2021
Topdot Solar

BLOG

April 15, 2021

Nevada Solar Policies And Updates In 2021

Nevada Home Solar

The Silver State has been famous for its efforts in renewable energy, and the drastic moves it has made to better the energy sphere. Over the past decade, solar power has grown in popularity as it becomes  technically more efficient and costs get better, making investment costs over energy returned better and better. And, Nevadans are adapting to these radical changes while the state continues to harness renewable energy, and homeowners see the obvious advantageous. Point being; both homeowners and utility companies are ramping up solar faster and faster, and Nevada installer companies are expanding left and right.

Nevada is considered by many to be one of the best locations for solar both corporately and residentially… Solar has many advantages such as the landscape Nevada has to offer. And, newer homes in pockets like northern cities such as Carson, and Sparks, and the southern most popular areas like Las Vegas and surrounding areas like Henderson would easily adapt to the home solar system needs of consumers, being grid-tied and receiving credits.  There are both commercial and residential advantages from adapting to solar power creating a double advantage for harnessing solar power. Residents create more renewable energy being connected to the grid, while commercial solutions that are growing fast, also add even more power from renewable energy to the grid, making Nevada rely less on dangerous fossil fuel production.

Commercial Solar Use In Nevada

To many utility corporations, farms and large-scale PV projects, the Silver State is seen as if it has unlimited capacity.  Nevada’s landscape is also a perfect place for commercial use because of the wide and open desert space between the burgeoning urban cities, that allows for large scale farms and plants.  Plus 2021 policies are making it much easier to harness solar. NV Energy, which is a utility power holdings company owning the two major players in Nevada Sierra Pacific Power Company, and  Nevada Power Company got state approval for a large  commercial use project. This will enable . Most recently PUCN (Public Utilities Commission of Nevada) gave approval for 1,190 megawatts of production from solar and 590 megawatts of battery storage. This colossal undertaking is a commercial advantage for the state growing its usage of renewable energy, and all of this power will go back to the utility companies.

Even if homeowners are not solar customers yet, large scale investments in solar from energy companies means more clean power. Meaning Nevada utility companies will still be sending clean power back to homeowners, even if they are paying a month to month bill without contributing. This power resource that was approved in December 2019 will be fully functional and ready for residential utility customers  by  Jan 1st 2024.

Hopefully these large scale solar projects will continue to be invested in as Nevada’s terrain can accommodate many. Nevada politics  offer positive results, and these approvals for increased power from the sun keep edging the Silver State closer to being one of the most renewable driven states.

Residential Solar Use In Nevada

On the other side of the solar advantage in Nevada is from the utility customers themselves. By adapting their own home solar systems, they can generate their own power, and get credited through NEM reading. Nowadays, any home in Nevada will have to stay grid connected in order to have the system, however the advantageous aspects are still high even though off-grid solutions are now frowned on.

Increasingly homes are developing more and more solar power. Nevada supports customers who live on the grid and generate their power through leased or purchased systems. In fact, the same company under NV Energy, The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, also overshadows homeowners. And, since 2017, it says that Nevadans who choose the net metering policies, will benefit from the rate structure. Although recently Tier 1 was closed, and mandates for NEM reading require an on-grid approach, there are still multiple structures up to Tier 4, which still complement the homeowners saving trajectory. The Tiers govern different percentages in which the retail rate is decreased. As the applied capacity increases so do the decreased percentage of retail costs. There are still benefits to solar beyond it’s a renewable resource, which does have great incentives to include their home with Net Energy Metering.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *