Warren Buffett’s NV Energy has won approval from Nevada utility regulators to add 1.2GW of solar PV and 590MW of battery energy storage to its system by the end of 2023 from three projects under development in the western US desert state.

The commitment by Las Vegas-based NV Energy, part of billionaire investor Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate, is among the largest for both technologies in the US. The utility is the largest in Nevada.

A new Nevada law in April requires electricity providers in the state to supply 50% of their power from renewable sources by 2030 versus 24% on NV Energy’s system at that time. The company expects to meet that mandate.

NV Energy will buy electric power from the projects that will be built in southern Nevada. It selected them through a competitive solicitation in fall 2018.

The largest is Gemini, a 690MW PV array coupled with a 380MW battery energy storage system, that will be located on 28.7 sq km of land owned by the federal government. The developers are Australia’s Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and Arevia Power based in California.

They claim the storage system is the world’s largest powered by solar capable of storing more than 1,400MWh of energy daily.

Southern Bighorn is a 300MW PV array with a 135MW, four-hour battery storage system. It will be built on the Moapa River Indian Reservation about 48 km north of Las Vegas. The developer is 8minute Solar Energy.

Arrow Canyon will comprise a 200MW PV array with a 75MW, five-hour battery storage system. It would also be sited on the Moapa Reservation and is being developed by EDF Renewables North America.

NV Energy signed its first renewable power purchase agreement in the 1980s. Its current portfolio includes energy generated by 57 biomass, geothermal, hydro, solar and wind projects.

Transition

Warren Buffett utility cleared for huge US solar-battery plan