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Water savings at NV Energy featured in Wall Street Journal Ad

This advertisement appeared in the US Wall Street Journal on December 2, 2010 and features the water savings achieved by NV Energy's Reid Gardner Generating Station in Moapa, Nevada since implementing Nalco innovations including 3D TRASAR technology for Cooling Water.

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Behind the Ad

The population of Nevada, the most arid state in the nation, grew by 66% between 1990 and 2000. Over two thirds of the population — 1.7 million people —live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area and depend on the Colorado River system for their drinking water. Droughts and population growth have strained that resource, so much so that Nevada has embarked on a project to develop distant groundwater supplies in northern Nevada. By pumping water through 327 miles of underground piping, officials hope to postpone serious water shortages.

Nevada’s growing population needs more than water. It needs electric power too. Operating a power plant in this environment presents challenges. Water supplies are tight. Water chemistry is problematic. The need to prevent operational problems competes with the need to conserve scarce natural resources.

Such was the situation at a NV Energy’s Reid Gardner Station in Moapa, NV, near Las Vegas. The plant needs water to operate. Minimizing that water use is the environmentally responsible thing to do, but traditional water-use reduction techniques — such as raising cycles of concentration — were not technically viable.

River and well sources supplied make-up water to the cooling system. Both contained problematic concentrations of silica, which had, historically, deposited on condenser tubes and cooling tower fill. The deposit, as shown in Table 1, was pure Silica (SiO2). This deposit generally occurs only when the recirculating water silica concentrations exceed 150 ppm and the temperature is less than 70°F (21°C). In this system, silica concentrations were about 230 ppm on average. The incoming water temperature was about 80°F (27°C) with a 20° temperature drop across the tower: perfect conditions for SiO2 formation.

Silica deposits are tenacious, insulating and difficult to remove. They reduce condenser efficiency and require time-consuming, mechanical cleaning processes to remove. Prevention of these deposits is the best option.

Read the full Case Study (CH-1045) PDF, 1.01Mb

NV Energy efforts to protect the desert tortoise

The desert tortoise (Mojave Population) is a federally threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and is the State Reptile of Nevada. NV Energy takes great pride in taking steps to protect the desert tortoise in southern Nevada. During any land permitting and environmental review processes, NV Energy conducts surveys to estimate the presence and quantity of desert tortoises within the footprint of proposed facilities on federal land. Through these processes with federal agencies, impacts to the species and its habitat are identified and specific mitigation measures are incorporated into the final engineering design and construction planning to minimize or avoid such impacts during construction, operation and maintenance activities. Prior to and during construction, desert tortoises are moved out of harm’s way according to specific protocols set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Biologists are present at all times during construction to ensure the safety of this species, and that the minimum amount of habitat is disturbed to construct and put a new facility into operation.

NV Energy site facilities in southern Nevada are protected by security chain-link and tortoise-proof fencing, along with safe walkways for tortoises to utilize across access roads and entry gates as protection from vehicles and equipment. In some locations, culverts are used for tortoises to cross underneath access roads, avoiding potentially harmful vehicular traffic. In all instances, tortoises are either avoided or moved out of harm’s way if necessary. Handling is minimal, as these animals depend on retaining their valuable storage of internal water since they go long periods of time without a drink of water.

Learn more about Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) conservation and recovery efforts

http://www.fws.gov/nevada/desert_tortoise/ Nevada Fish and Wildlife Office
http://www.nvwf.org/nevada/wildlife/tortoise.htm Nevada Wildlife Federation
http://www.tortoisegroup.org/ The Tortoise Group
http://sierrawave.com/rttc/index.htm Reno Tortoise Club