New Northern Nevada Power Plant Goes Online
The newest power plant in Northern Nevada is up and running and generating 17 megawatts of electricity. Galena 3 is the latest addition to Ormat Technologies' Steamboat geothermal complex a few miles south of Reno along Highway 395. The entire complex produces approximately 100 megawatts of electricity from Northern Nevada's most abundant renewable resource – geothermal energy.
Among guest speakers at Galena 3's dedication on May 5 were Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons and Michael Yackira, president and CEO of Sierra Pacific Resources. The output from the Steamboat complex is sold to the utility holding company's Northern Nevada subsidiary, Sierra Pacific Power Company. Yackira noted that geothermal energy has an advantage over other forms of renewable energy because it's "base load" energy that available for use 24 hours a day.
Nevada is already No. 1 per capita for the use of both geothermal energy and solar energy.
Sierra Pacific Power will be adding another 541 megawatts of power to its portfolio with completion of the natural gas-fired Tracy Combined Cycle power plant east of Reno-Sparks in June 2008. With completion of that plant, Sierra Pacific Power's Northern Nevada - Northeastern California service territory will be virtually energy self-sufficient.
