NRS704.741. Plan to increase supply or decrease demands: Triennial submission required; contents prescribed by regulation; requirements.

      1.  A utility which supplies electricity in this State shall, on or before July 1 of every third year, in the manner specified by the Commission, submit a plan to increase its supply of electricity or decrease the demands made on its system by its customers to the Commission.

      2.  The Commission shall, by regulation:

      (a) Prescribe the contents of such a plan, including, but not limited to, the methods or formulas which are used by the utility to:

             (1) Forecast the future demands; and

             (2) Determine the best combination of sources of supply to meet the demands or the best method to reduce them; and

      (b) Designate renewable energy zones and revise the designated renewable energy zones as the Commission deems necessary.

      3.  The Commission shall require the utility to include in its plan:

      (a) An energy efficiency program for residential customers which reduces the consumption of electricity or any fossil fuel and which includes, without limitation, the use of new solar thermal energy sources; and

      (b) A comparison of a diverse set of scenarios of the best combination of sources of supply to meet the demands or the best methods to reduce the demands, which must include at least one scenario of low carbon intensity.

      4.  The Commission shall require the utility to include in its plan a plan for construction or expansion of transmission facilities to serve renewable energy zones and to facilitate the utility in meeting the portfolio standard established by NRS 704.7821.

      5.  As used in this section:

      (a) “Carbon intensity” means the amount of carbon by weight emitted per unit of energy consumed.

      (b) “Renewable energy zones” means specific geographic zones where renewable energy resources are sufficient to develop generation capacity and where transmission constrains the delivery of electricity from those resources to customers.

      (Added to NRS by 1983, 886; A 1987, 961; 2007, 2986; 2009, 993, 1075)