By Jason Geddes, Reno Gazette-Journal
 
As every Nevadan knows, our state sees a lot of sunshine. What is news to some, however, is how we’ve increasingly used that natural resource to our advantage by adding significant amounts of solar power to the state’s energy mix.

And with recent cost declines – 85 percent since 2009 – solar is now frequently generating cost savings, in addition to helping make our state’s electricity production cleaner.

That’s why I was surprised to read a few months ago that the U.S. Department of Energy was commencing a study on whether or not the recent shift away from traditional baseload power sources (such as coal) to more renewable energy threatened the reliability of our nation’s electricity grid. However, a draft of the study reported on last month confirmed exactly what I’ve seen in my own experience tracking renewable energy for Nevada: no issues with reliability.

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