The age of green

We are now entering an age in which the human race is realizing the importance of using forms of energy that do not threaten the natural world that surrounds them. Today, Nevada, one of the most resource-poor, forbidding and least settled of all the states in the Union, has been pioneering in the field of electric-drive transportation. It is thus living up to its frontier past, when pioneers braved the harsh wilderness in search of treasure.

ON Line

One of the state’s most important steps in the green direction has been the opening up of ON Line (the One Nevada Transmission Line), which runs 231 miles from the Harry Allen Generating Station, located north of Las Vegas, to the Robinson Summit Substation, which is many miles to the north, just west of Ely. The line was officially dedicated in January 2014.

Ownership in ON Line is distributed between LS Power affiliate Great Basin Transmission South and NV Energy, which own 75 and 25 percent respectively. Currently, the latter business owns 100 percent of the initial capacity of the line, and will continue to do so until LS Power completes the the Southwest Intertie Project, which is the collective name for the project phases taken as a whole.

The state legislature has also ordered NV Energy to provide 14 percent of its electricity from renewable sources of energy during this year, a goal which it has already exceeded to the tune of 4 percent. By 2025, such energy sources are to provide a quarter of NV Energy’s electricity. The company will be able to sell the excess energy to nearby states.

Benefits of ON Line

The benefits that the state has received as a result of the creation of ON Line have gone far beyond the environmental sphere. The rail line has created hundreds of new jobs for the state’s 2,790,136 people. In addition, the project should save a great deal of money in the long run, including the utility bills of individual households.

Other green projects in Nevada

ON Line is far from the only major green energy project taking place in the state. The Downtown Project in Las Vegas is working on a supercharger station at 701 Bridger Street, which is at present the location of Bridger Law Building. Tesla Motors is also taking part in this venture. When the station is complete, it will include six parking stalls that will be able to refuel the battery pack of the Tesla Motors Models S and X, of which the latter is still in the production phase. There will be a whole nationwide network of such supercharger sites, of which the one in Las Vegas will be but a part, with each being 200 miles from the next. Tesla Motors will own and operate the sites. Owners of Tesla vehicles will have electricity provided for them free of charge as long as their vehicles last.