Data centers could “four” the region’s electricity network, says NV Energy CEO – Nevada’s appeal

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North Nevada’s energy network can abandon the size of the “predictable future” if the data storage industry continues to grow east of the Reno-Sparks subway and other places, Doug Cannon, the President and CEO of NV Energy, told about Nevada news producers, for Nevada news producers for Nevada news producers for Nevada news producers for Nevada news producers for Nevada Novation Producers for Nevada Nevada news manufacturers Nevada news producers for Nevada for Nevada Nevada news producers for Nevada Nevada news producers for Nevada news producers.

“So over the next few years it is absolutely predictable that you can double, triple, even settish the size of the common electricity network in North Nevada,” Kennan told the host Sam Shad recently in Las Vegas.

It is difficult to understand the size of an electrical grid that will be four times larger than it is now. TRACT, a Denver -based company that develops major plans and builds an infrastructure for data storage centers, said last year that it plans to invest $ 100 billion in Storey County over the next 10 years for its data storage centers.

Another company, Vantage, will invest $ 245 million in another county data center, said the governor of the Governor for Economic Development last year.

Still, NV Energy will also need to invest strongly to produce enough energy to supply these businesses and others like them. Storage can consume a significant amount of energy to maintain their numerous servers and storage systems to operate and cool.

“We’re talking about billions of dollars investments that are needed to be able to build this infrastructure,” Cannon said.

However, Cannon does not want to invest seriously in infrastructure, while the data storage industry proves that his plans will become a reality.

“The other side of this is that we want to be very careful about protecting our existing customers,” Cannon said. “We cannot go out and make all this big investment and then show this load on data centers.”

If the plans of data centers did not happen, “suddenly these costs are transferred to our existing customers,” Cannon said. “So, while talking to these data centers, we talk to them and try to provide them with realistic deadlines.

“But at the same time we have the conversation, they will have to come to the table and provide financial support in order to be able to build this infrastructure so that these costs are not placed on our existing clients. “

The heads of the data centers industry understand local problems, Cannon said.

“There is an alignment that these data centers do not want to enter and put effects on the local community,” Cannon said. “So I haven’t had a single leader in those companies who want to transfer this risk to our customers. So I’m grateful for it. I think it’s really positive.

“There are productive conversations that happen to these data centers developers,” Cannon continued. “They recognize the role they have to play when coming to these communities. And so these are positive conversations.”

As with any major project, the devil in the details and these details have not yet been finalized, Cannon said.

“Do we have all the details?” I spend a piece of almost every day trying to figure out how we will work and support this development of data centers. “

The opposition in some sectors is pus against data centers.

Last week, the Renault Planning Commission recommended that the city set a temporary pause for submitting and issuing permits for data centers. However, this vote does not affect the development of data centers east of the metro area in Storey and Lyon.

Last month, the head of Sierra Club’s Toiabe, an environmental organization, filed a complaint against the approval of the WebB Planning Commission, near the North Virginia intersection and Stead Boulevard.

NV Energy wants to hold this growing industry, Cannon said.

“One of the topics we are really trying to apply is that we want to keep Nevada open to business,” he said. “This is a comment that is made by our local employees here. And so we try to develop it.”

Is nuclear energy viable for the future?

The question remains: where will NV Energy get electricity for such a great expansion?

The Greenlink West project will help.

With a $ 4.2 billion estimated price, Greenlink West will include a 350 miles transmission line between Las Vegas and Renault and will serve as a “backbone” on the new network, Cannon said.

The GreenLink West project received its final federal approval in September by the Ministry of Interior. It can eventually convey up to 4,000 megawatts of clean energy, enough to supply approximately 4.8 million homes. The project is expected to work by 2027, according to the published reports.

Still, Greenlink West will not be enough to power the proposed data storage industry and its huge energy requirements, Cannon said.

“There will be additional transmission infrastructure (required),” he said. “There will be a significant infrastructure for the production of electricity that will be needed. This is something we have not talked about in Nevada for a long time. We have been very focused on the transmission. We have been focused on renewable energy. You will have to take a wide -ranging portfolio approach, for To really satisfy the needs of these data centers. “

Cannon does not rule out the thinking of nuclear energy in the future, but NV Energy is not seriously pursuing it now, he added.

“While looking at energy needs in the United States in the coming decades, if we are serious about decarbonization, nuclear energy must be part of this conversation,” he said.

“This is a powerful decarbonisation tool,” Cannon said of nuclear energy. “Still (there is) the supply of energy to a basic load. And when I say Baseload, it is there all the time. And it is clean, it is without carbon.”

Some are still cautious of nuclear energy. They can point to two major accidents in Chernobyl and Fukushima Daicich.

However, these are the only major accidents that occurred in over 18,500 cumulative years of a reactor of commercial atomic electricity in 36 countries, according to the World Nuclear Association.

The partnership study shows that more than 30 nuclear or radiation accidents have led to death from the 1950s in nuclear power plants, aboard nuclear submarines and/or in radiation therapy incidents. Only two of the 30 plus incident has happened in the last 20 years, as nuclear technology continues to improve.

“So I know there is a lot of controversy over the nuclear environment,” Cannon said. “Given a number of factors in Nevada, we are currently not pursuing nuclear energy in Nevada.

“This said we are following the market a lot,” he added.

He sees a promise in small modular nuclear reactors (SMRS) that can be built into factories or assembled on site. They use a division to produce heat, which can become electricity.

“I think it’s an exciting technology,” Cannon said. “It allows you to essentially arrange a number of small reactors and you can build everything from a 50-megawatt facility to up to 1000 mega facility, arranging these small reactors and then using them on a necessary basis.

“I think it’s an exciting decade to watch how this technology is developing and others in the coming years,” he said, adding that NV Energy does not seem a leader in the development of nuclear energy.

“Let’s let someone else take these costs,” he said. “Let’s make sure it’s safe. Let’s make sure it’s reliable. And since it is demonstrated on a commercial network, then absolutely.”

The conversion of nuclear energy into electricity – even in SMR – requires a lot of water, Kennan said.

“This is certainly less (water) than big reactors, but water is a problem and water is a problem that we will have to think about here in Nevada as we look at these different technologies,” Cannon said.