Nevada regulators on Tuesday approved a permit for NV Energy to build a 220-MW battery storage system at the former site of the Reid Gardner coal-fired generating station in Clark County.

The two-hour, lithium-ion battery storage system will cost an estimated $217 million and is expected to be operating by May 2023. The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) approved the construction permit on a 3-0 vote.

The project includes a new 230-kV substation, a 230-kV transmission line and interconnection facilities at the existing Reid Gardner substation. The site was formerly home to the Reid Gardner generating station, which closed in 2017 and was NV Energy’s last coal plant in southern Nevada.

NV Energy said the battery storage project would help it more efficiently manage the growing number of solar resources coming online as part of the utility’s decarbonization efforts.

The project is still subject to approval by other state and local authorities.

Part of IRP Amendment

The Reid Gardner battery storage project is one piece of a proposed amendment to NV Energy’s 2021 integrated resource plan (IRP). Tuesday’s approval assumes the commission will also approve the IRP amendment. A hearing on the amendment is scheduled for July 20.

The proposed IRP amendment also includes a power purchase agreement for 25 MW of renewable energy from the North Valley geothermal facility.

The amendment proposes upgrades to three peaker projects that would increase peaking capacity by a combined 48 MW and cost $24 million. The upgrades would be in service by May 2024.

In addition, NV Energy wants to spend $3.5 million to continue exploring a 1,000-MW pumped hydro storage project in White Pine County in eastern Nevada. The expenditure would give the utility exclusive rights to acquire the project. The project, which is being developed by rPlus Hydro, would interconnect at the Robinson Summit substation.

In its application filed with the PUCN, NV Energy said the IRP amendment would help address concerns about regional market capacity.

As a result of climate change, NV Energy said it must “re-evaluate established practices, in particular large reliance on market purchases, to ensure sufficient capacity to meet peak demands during the summer.”

NV Energy pointed to an energy emergency alert event on July 9, 2021, when a Southern Oregon wildfire cut off about 5,500 MW of transmission capacity on two primary lines from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest. At the same time, demand was surging as Nevada and other states experienced near record-breaking temperatures. NV Energy set a new combined system peak load record that day.

“Climate related incidents such as this no longer appear to be isolated events,” the utility said.

Sierra Club Support

The Sierra Club filed comments with PUCN in strong support of the proposed Reid Gardner battery storage system.

“The project will provide peak capacity during times of high demand, reduce reliance on market capacity, and support the integration of solar energy resources into the grid,” wrote Elspeth DiMarzio, senior campaign representative for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign.

Battery storage projects are a more cost-effective way to increase capacity than the utility’s proposed gas plant upgrades, DiMarzio said.

And by building at the Reid Gardner site rather than on undeveloped land, NV Energy will minimize environmental impacts of the project, DiMarzio wrote.