norman
country-financial
March 28, 2024 10:13 am
Your hometown Newspaper since 1987.
Search
Close this search box.

OPD Board Approves Agreements To Supply Power To Paiute Solar Plant

By VERNON ROBISON

Moapa Valley Progress

The Overton Power District (OPD) Board of Directors, in a meeting held on Wednesday in Overton, approved a pair of contracts pertaining to the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar Project. This project is currently nearing completion on Moapa Indian Reservation lands directly across the I-15 from the Paiute Travel Plaza.

Both of the agreements dealt with OPD’s role in delivering power needed to run the solar generating facility during night-time hours and other occasions when the plant is not able to generate electricity.
OPD General Manager Mendis Cooper explained that all of the power generated from the 250 mega-watt facility is under a power purchase agreement to supply the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). This power would be transmitted onto the grid through transmission lines from the solar site to the nearby Crystal substation, Cooper explained.

But it had been determined that the plant would need those transmission lines for more than just sending power out.
“What it comes down to is that First Solar needs operational power to the plant when it is dark outside or cloudy,” Cooper said.
LADWP had proposed to backfeed energy to the plant across their system and deliver it directly through the Crystal substation without involving the OPD in the process. But because the plant and the surrounding area falls within the OPD service territory, district legal counsel had felt it unwise to allow the LADWP to sell the power directly to First Solar, Cooper said.
“There have been some discussions between First Solar and the tribe about the plant serving the tribe at the Plaza,” explained Cooper. “So we wanted to insert ourselves in there so that they won’t have the ability to set up a situation where they might serve anybody that they want to on the Reservation.”

Cooper acknowledged that this would normally not be possible since the Reservation is already part of the legal OPD service territory. But under the sovereignty of the Reservation, the tribe might be given additional leeway than would normally exist if that door were left open, Cooper explained.
“We talked about building a line out to the plant to provide power service,” Cooper said. “But in the end, it was decided to allow LADWP to provide power across their system.”

The first of the two agreements was a wholesale service agreement between OPD and LADWP. Through this agreement, OPD would install a meter at the entry to the First Solar plant system. The LADWP would then sell power through that point to the OPD.

In coordination with this, a second agreement was also drafted. This was a retail service agreement between OPD and the Moapa Southern Paiute Solar project whereby the district would pass on the expenses of LADWP to the solar plant.
The two contracts each specified a 25 year term.

Cooper emphasized that the district would not be increasing the cost of the power in the transaction. OPD would however pass on a relatively nominal administration fee to the plant for the district’s efforts in administering the program, he said. These fees included a $4,000 up front cost to pay for OPD staff time in preparing the agreement. An additional $193 per month in administrative costs would be charged as well to cover the district’s staff time. That ongoing monthly cost would have a 3 percent annual escalator, according to the contract.

Mesquite trustee Mike Young asked if the administrative charges and the escalator clause would be enough to cover the district’s costs over the long term. Cooper ensured that they would be more than enough to do so.

OPD attorney Byron Mills added that, should there arise a problem to the district down the road, the agreement allowed the OPD to terminate the contract at any time with at least a 1 year written notice.
“It is true that we are not making a lot of income on these agreements,” Cooper said. “But that isn’t really the intent. The important thing is that we are protecting ourselves and the ratepayers.”

In another agenda item, the board approved a capital expenditure of $3.5 million over the next three years for a new automated meter reading system as well as an update to all meters in the system.
This project was the initial part of a longer-term capital expenditures plan that has been under discussion by the Board in recent months. The plan would consider saving for long term improvement projects for the OPD system totalling nearly $34 million over the next eight years.
Most of these improvements are still merely proposals as current discussions have been yet in the strategic planning stage and no final decisions have been made.

Cooper told the board that the meter reading system and updated meters posed an immediate need, however. The special pricing being offered by the provider will expire at the end of this year, he said. Thus immediate action would save the district considerable money in the project, Cooper said.

Print This Article:

Share This Article:

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Screen Shot 2023-02-05 at 10.55.46 PM
2-21-2024-fullpagefair
4 Youth Service WEB
2-28-2024 WEB Hole Foods St Patricks
No data was found
2023 WEB BANNER 2 DEFAULT AD whitneyswater
Mesquite Works Web Ad 10-2020
Scroll to Top
Receive the latest news

Subscribe To Our Weekly Newsletter

Get notified about new articles