Nevada’s largest electricity utility, NV Energy, said it expects the state to miss a clean-energy requirement it is bound by law to meet by 2030 for the first time—an outcome the utility links to a surge in power requests from data centers built to serve artificial intelligence computing. The company made the warning as it prepares to submit a draft Integrated Resource Plan in April outlining how it will address projected energy shortages. The renewable portfolio standard, or RPS, requires NV Energy to supply a steadily rising share of its electricity from renewables, with regulators overseeing compliance.
NV Energy’s forecast centers on the scale and speed of new demand in the state. The utility said it is on track to miss the RPS clean-energy standards by 2030, even though Nevada voters approved the requirement in 2020 with a goal of reaching half of electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The utility also warned that meeting the law’s targets will get harder over time, describing a growing gap between the renewable energy it expects to be able to procure and the total electricity load it must serve.
In a presentation described by the Nevada Independent during December, NV Energy’s Vice President of Regulatory Janet Wells said the company needs to nearly double the amount of renewable energy it pulls to meet the state’s 2030 clean-energy target while continuing to serve customers. Wells said the company would not know whether it could comply until it sees how much electricity demand materializes. NV Energy said failing to meet the RPS can result in a fine levied by state energy regulators, depending on how regulators evaluate the utility’s planning and supply assumptions.
The utility’s planning challenge, NV Energy said, is tied to data centers’ ability to draw large amounts of power as AI use expands. The utility did not provide an exact number of data centers in the queue, but it said the existing queue would require more than 15,600 megawatts of additional power compared with NV Energy’s system. Brian Turner, senior director at Advanced Energy United, said data centers “are shopping around” in multiple states and seek the fastest and cheapest power supply. Because investor-owned utilities like NV Energy are legally obligated to provide service when a business chooses to locate in their territory, NV Energy cannot simply refuse new load—though it can require data center developers to meet certain requirements.
NV Energy said it does require data center operators and developers to enter into agreements intended to fund their infrastructure and energy needs, with the goal of minimizing effects on Nevadans’ electricity bills. Sierra Club director Olivia Tanager said that approach does not eliminate the planning risk posed by the rapid growth in demand. Tanager called NV Energy’s decision to file a new Integrated Resource Plan earlier than required and the continued rise in projections “terrifying,” saying the projections keep going up despite other energy challenges. She also argued that slowing or sequencing renewable development could be crucial, especially if supply is not available when new load arrives.
Nevada’s RPS history shows how quickly the utility’s latest forecast could change the compliance outlook. Nevada adopted an RPS in 1997 and later increased it gradually, with lawmakers in 2019 setting a target of 50% renewables by 2030. The law uses a credit system in which renewable energy production creates energy credits that the utility must turn in relative to total electricity generation. NV Energy reported it met its RPS in earlier years, including recording 39.7% when the target was 29% in 2023, and reporting a 46.8% RPS in 2024. NV Energy said it expects to exceed the RPS percentage required for 2025, while noting it will report the 2025 figure in April.
While the RPS structure can allow utilities to demonstrate compliance through credit purchases, the utility’s concerns focus on supply availability and how much additional generation can be built or secured. NV Energy said it will submit a plan every three years, but it is submitting the upcoming draft Integrated Resource Plan a year early in part because of the volume of forecasted energy needs. The plan’s release comes as Nevada faces additional pressure on its renewable development pipeline, including delays affecting utility-scale solar projects and a shift toward additional natural gas generation.
Gov. Joe Lombardo raised concerns in a letter last year to the Department of the Interior about federal moves that affect utility-scale solar projects already in Nevada’s pipeline, according to the report. Lombardo flagged projects including Dry Lake East, Boulder Solar III and Libra Solar as issues of concern. NV Energy said Dry Lake East is on schedule, but developers behind Libra Solar and Boulder Solar III raised concerns that federal tariffs and policies negatively affected development, and said Boulder Solar III was not moving forward as planned. The federal government also shifted its approach to environmental review for the Esmeralda 7 solar complex, with the project’s size described as comparable to the footprint of Las Vegas, potentially slowing timelines.
With some solar projects stalled, NV Energy said it is leaning more on natural gas to meet power needs. In its draft Integrated Resource Plan, the company called for thousands of megawatts of new renewable energy and battery storage, but it also said its “preferred plan” would add more natural gas than renewables and battery storage. Tanager described this trajectory as “staggering,” warning that gas additions over the decade could surpass 3 gigawatts. Turner said load growth is a nationwide issue and that it should create a sense of urgency, pointing to a separate estimate that existing data centers require more than 14,000 megawatts to operate and proposed centers could add nearly 187,000 megawatts to grid demand.
Some companies developing data center campuses have also pursued their own generation resources. Copia Power, for example, intends to build a natural gas plant for its planned Monarch Data Center Campus in Northern Nevada and is seeking permits for an additional gas plant and battery storage near the Apex Industrial Park. The report also said state lawmakers are getting involved, with an interim committee meeting later this month expected to focus on data centers. Tanager said she expects “definitely going to be legislation” in the next session, adding, “Look out for 2027.”