Nevada’s renewable portfolio standard (RPS) has been modified several times since 1997. In 2005 former Gov. Kenneth Guinn increased the standard, requiring the state to derive 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. In 2009 former Gov. Jim Gibbons increased the RPS to 25 percent by 2025.
Qualifying sources include solar, biomass, geothermal energy, wind, certain hydropower, energy recovery processes, and waste tires.
The law also contains a solar carve out requiring utilities to meet six percent of the RPS requirement with solar by 2016. The 2005 revision allows certain energy efficiency measures to count toward the mandate.
Nevada utilities may buy and sell Portfolio Energy Credits (PECs) in order to meet the standard. Certain multipliers are added to PECs if they are produced from customer-sited solar photovoltaics, electricity saved during peak periods, or a customer-maintained distributed generation system.
The Temporary Renewable Energy Development (TRED) program established by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (PUCN) allows utilities to charge customers a surcharge to pay for procuring renewable energy separate from the wholesale energy purchase. A dedicated trust fund collects TRED surcharges and sends the funds to renewable energy projects that produce energy utilities purchase from them to meet the RPS.
Source: Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency