1. A utility which supplies electricity in this State shall, on or before June 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. Two or more utilities that are affiliated through common ownership and that have an interconnected system for the transmission of electricity shall submit a joint plan.

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 or utilities to:

(1) Forecast the future demands, except that a forecast of the future retail electric demands of the utility or utilities must not include the amount of energy and capacity proposed pursuant to subsection 6 as annual limits on the total amount of energy and capacity that eligible customers may be authorized to purchase from providers of new electric resources through transactions approved by the Commission pursuant to an application submitted pursuant to NRS 704B.310 on or after May 16, 2019; 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 or utilities to include in the 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.

(b) A proposal for the expenditure of not less than 5 percent of the total expenditures related to energy efficiency and conservation programs on energy efficiency and conservation programs directed to low-income customers of the electric utility.

(c) 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 that includes the deployment of distributed generation.

(d) An analysis of the effects of the requirements of NRS 704.766 to 704.776, inclusive, on the reliability of the distribution system of the utility or utilities and the costs to the utility or utilities to provide electric service to all customers. The analysis must include an evaluation of the costs and benefits of addressing issues of reliability through investment in the distribution system.

(e) A list of the utility’s or utilities’ assets described in NRS 704.7338.

(f) A surplus asset retirement plan as required by NRS 704.734.

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

5. The Commission shall require the utility or utilities to include in the plan a distributed resources plan. The distributed resources plan must:

(a) Evaluate the locational benefits and costs of distributed resources. This evaluation must be based on reductions or increases in local generation capacity needs, avoided or increased investments in distribution infrastructure, safety benefits, reliability benefits and any other savings the distributed resources provide to the electricity grid for this State or costs to customers of the electric utility or utilities.

(b) Propose or identify standard tariffs, contracts or other mechanisms for the deployment of cost-effective distributed resources that satisfy the objectives for distribution planning.

(c) Propose cost-effective methods of effectively coordinating existing programs approved by the Commission, incentives and tariffs to maximize the locational benefits and minimize the incremental costs of distributed resources.

(d) Identify any additional spending necessary to integrate cost-effective distributed resources into distribution planning consistent with the goal of yielding a net benefit to the customers of the electric utility or utilities.

(e) Identify barriers to the deployment of distributed resources, including, without limitation, safety standards related to technology or operation of the distribution system in a manner that ensures reliable service.

6. The Commission shall require the utility or utilities to include in the plan a proposal for annual limits on the total amount of energy and capacity that eligible customers may be authorized to purchase from providers of new electric resources through transactions approved by the Commission pursuant to an application submitted pursuant to NRS 704B.310 on or after May 16, 2019. In developing the proposal and the forecasts in the plan, the utility or utilities must use a sensitivity analysis that, at a minimum, addresses load growth, import capacity, system constraints and the effect of eligible customers purchasing less energy and capacity than authorized by the proposed annual limit. The proposal in the plan must include, without limitation:

(a) A forecast of the load growth of the utility or utilities;

(b) The number of eligible customers that are currently being served by or anticipated to be served by the utility or utilities;

(c) Information concerning the infrastructure of the utility or utilities that is available to accommodate market-based new electric resources;

(d) Proposals to ensure the stability of rates and the availability and reliability of electric service; and

(e) For each year of the plan, impact fees applicable to each megawatt or each megawatt hour to account for costs reflected in the base tariff general rate and base tariff energy rate paid by end-use customers of the electric utility.

7. The annual limits proposed pursuant to subsection 6 shall not apply to energy and capacity sales to an eligible customer if the eligible customer:

(a) Was not an end-use customer of the electric utility at any time before the effective date of this act; and

(b) Would have a peak load of 10 megawatts or more in the service territory of an electric utility within 2 years of initially taking electric service.

8. As used in this section:

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

(b) “Distributed generation system” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 701.380.

(c) “Distributed resources” means distributed generation systems, energy efficiency, energy storage, electric vehicles and demand-response technologies.

(d) “Eligible customer” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 704B.080.

(e) “Energy” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 704B.090.

(f) “New electric resource” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 704B.110.

(g) “Provider of new electric resources” has the meaning ascribed to it in NRS 704B.130.

(h) “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.

(i) “Sensitivity analysis” means a set of methods or procedures which results in a determination or estimation of the sensitivity of a result to a change in given data or a given assumption.

(Added to NRS by 1983, 886; A 1987, 961; 2007, 2986; 2009, 993, 1075; 2015, 2149, 2216; 2017, 938, 4286; 2019, 1199, 3516)