Nevada's renewable resources
Nevada, located in the southwestern United States, has a diverse array of renewable resources, primarily focusing on hydropower, geothermal energy, and substantial potential for solar and wind energy. The state is characterized by its arid climate and vast landscapes, including the Mojave Desert and the Great Basin. Despite having no fossil fuel reserves, Nevada has become a leader in renewable energy generation, with over 53% of its electricity sourced from renewables as of 2022. Key players in this sector include the Hoover Dam, which generates hydroelectric power, and numerous geothermal plants, the latter contributing around 10% of the state’s electricity.
The state has also made significant strides in solar energy, achieving 26% of its power generation from solar sources alone. Nevada’s Renewable Portfolio Standard mandates that a growing percentage of electricity comes from renewable sources, and the state has consistently exceeded these targets. Additionally, Nevada is a prominent producer of minerals, including gold and lithium, which play critical roles in the growing renewable energy technology sector. While the state grapples with the future of nuclear waste management at the disputed Yucca Mountain site, its commitment to renewable resources continues to shape its energy landscape and economic development.
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Nevada's renewable resources
Summary: The landlocked state of Nevada, in the southwestern United States, has no fossil fuel reserves but considerable hydropower, geothermal energy, and significant potential for solar and wind energy.
Nevada is a landlocked state in the western United States and shares a border with California, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and Arizona. It has a primarily arid climate (with an average annual rainfall of 7 inches, ranging across the state from more than 40 inches to less than 4 inches) and numerous mountain ranges. The southern third of the state is located within the Mojave Desert, and much of the northern state is located within the Great Basin. The state’s land area is 110,567 square miles, and the population of 3,194,176 is highly urbanized and rapidly growing.
In the years between 1990 and 2000, Nevada’s population increased by 66.3 percent; from 2000 to 2010, it increased by 32.3 percent; and between 2010 and 2020, it grew by 13 percent. The population of the Las Vegas metropolitan area alone increased by about 9 percent from 2010 to 2020, with most of the increase coming from domestic migration.
Crude Oil Reserves
Nevada has no known reserves of crude oil, dry natural gas, or coal, and in 2022 production of crude oil and natural gas represented less than 0.1 percent of the total US production of these commodities. The state has one small crude oil refinery, which produces asphalt and diesel fuel. However, mining is a major industry in Nevada, and in 2009 the total value of all minerals produced in the state was about $8.8 billion, of that, $7 billion was produced by silver and gold mining. In 2022, Nevada was the leading US producer of gold (producing about 72 percent of the US total), barite, and lithium. That same year, Nevada produced about 4 million troy ounces of gold, 1.2 million troy ounces of silver, and 31.34 million pounds of copper.
Nevada generated about 3.2 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2022, of which the majority was generated by renewable sources (53.3 percent) and natural gas-fired plants (43.2 percent), with smaller amounts generated by coal-fired plants (3.7 percent). In 2022, the electric power industry produced 1.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions, 10,000 metric tons of nitrogen oxide emissions, and 3,000 metric tons of sulfur dioxide emissions. Two major crude oil pipelines cross Nevada—the Calnev and Kinder-Morgan—and there are three interstate natural gas pipelines, run by the Kern River Gas Transmission Company, Southwest Gas Corporation, and the Tuscarora Pipe Line Company. Nevada had 787 fueling stations for motor gasoline in 2022 and 573 charging locations for electric vehicles.
On December 31, 2005, the state’s largest electricity generating plant, the Mohave Generating Station, was shut down for failing to install pollution-control equipment. Located in Laughlin, Nevada, near the borders with California and Arizona, the Mojave Generating Station was supplied with coal from the Black Mesa coal mine in northeastern Arizona, delivered by means of the world’s only coal slurry pipeline. The coal was pulverized and mixed with water before being transported through 275 miles of pipe. The largest power plant in Nevada is the Chuck Lenzie Generating Station, fueled by natural gas and featuring an air-cooler-condenser system and water-clarifier system which together recycle most (75 percent) of the used water and allow the plant to use only 2.2 percent of the water per megawatt of electricity generated that is required by a conventional coal power plant.
Per capita energy consumption in Nevada in 2022 was 861 million British thermal units (Btu), ranking the state third in the United States. The state's total energy consumed was 706 billion Btu, including 46.2 million barrels of petroleum. Petroleum consumption included 26.5 million barrels of motor gasoline, 12 million barrels of distillate fuel, 1.2 million barrels of liquefied petroleum gas, and 4.8 million barrels of jet fuel (primary due to demand from two air bases and the airports in Las Vegas and Reno). Cleaner-burning motor gasoline, which has low volatility and contains oxygenates, is required to be used all year in the Las Vegas Metropolitan area, while both the Reno and the Las Vegas metropolitan areas require that oxygenated motor gasoline be used during the winter. The transportation sector was the primary consumer of energy (276 trillion Btu) in 2022, followed by the residential sector (157 trillion Btu), the industrial sector (143 trillion Btu), and the commercial sector (130 trillion Btu). Home heating was most commonly produced with natural gas (58.7 percent), followed by electricity (34.4 percent).
Major Geothermal Resources
Nevada has major geothermal resources, particularly in the northern half of the state, and was second only to California as a producer of geothermal power in 2022, with twenty geothermal plants that produced 10 percent of the state’s electricity. Among these plants was an innovative hybrid geothermal-solar plant that was built as a geothermal facility in 2009 before adding solar capability in 2015. The second-largest power plant in the state is the hydroelectric plant on the Hoover Dam, which supplies power to Arizona and California, as well as Nevada. Nevada also has rich potential for producing solar energy and wind power. In June 2009, Nevada passed a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) requiring that, by 2025, at least 25 percent of the state’s electricity be produced by renewable sources and that, by 2016, at least 6 percent be produced by solar energy. The state surpassed both goals, with 53.3 percent renewable energy in 2022 and solar power providing 26 percent.
Although Nevada has no nuclear power facilities, since the 1980s a site in Nevada, Yucca Mountain, has been a leading candidate for construction of a repository for high-level nuclear waste (primarily spent fuel from nuclear reactors). Yucca Mountain is a volcanic ridge in southwestern Nevada, near the California border and about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada has fought the proposal in court and in Congress, and scientific concerns have been raised about the stability of the formation and whether the nuclear waste would pollute the water table.
Bibliography
“Backgrounder on Licensing Yucca Mountain.” U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 18 June 2018, www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/yucca-license-review.html. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
“Lessons Learned: Summary of Findings and Recommendations for the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future.” Board of Eureka County Commissioners, March 2011, www.yuccamountain.org/pdf/lessons-learned‗2011.pdf. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"Nevada." US Energy Information Administration, 16 May 2024, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NV. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.
"Nevada Mineral Producers, Commodities & Occurrences." Nevada Division of Minerals, 2023, data-ndom.opendata.arcgis.com/pages/claims-commodities--occurrences. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.