NV Energy is making a power play by more than quadrupling the output of its 16-year-old southern Nevada powerplant, the 144-MW Harry Allen Generating Station. Once used as a facility for peak-time power use, the simple-cycle natural gas-fired plant is now undergoing a $600-million expansion that will increase capacity to 628 MW.
“After California's energy crisis, we needed to become self-sufficient and not dependent upon others,” says Andrew McNeil, NV Energy's new generation corporate executive. “At the time, we had been buying about 75% of our power from the grid.”