Board asks staff to study agency role on energy generation, transmission and data centers; staff to include work in strategic plan goals

The Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Governing Board unanimously directed TMRPA staff to include an overarching review of the agency’s role and approach to reviewing energy generation and transmission projects — including a focused look at data centers — in the agency’s strategic work plan for fiscal year 2025–26.

Jeremy Smith reviewed state statutory context (NRS 278.026) that defines Projects of Regional Significance (PRS) and specifically lists electric generation and transmission among uses the regional planning commission must review. Smith noted the statute exempts state agencies and public utilities regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada from some review obligations, which limits direct agency authority over certain utilities. He also recounted the agency’s historical Regional Utility Corridor Report (first adopted 1999, amended 2009) and cited eight energy-related policies in the regional plan staff will use to evaluate projects.

Smith summarized a staff report on data centers prepared for the Regional Planning Commission. He told the board data centers are an emergent, energy‑intensive land use with widely varying scales: small server sites, medium colocation facilities, and large hyperscale centers used for high‑performance computing and AI that can draw tens of megawatts each. Smith said data centers typically have low employee density (high square feet per employee), low vehicle-trip generation relative to other uses, but high electricity and potentially high water demands depending on cooling technology. He flagged evaporative cooling as a consumptive water use that can be inappropriate in an arid region and said alternatives such as closed-loop cooling, direct-to-chip cooling, or using treated effluent should be considered.

Smith also noted the evolving nature of electricity planning and rate impacts. He described “Rule 9” cost-allocation mechanisms that can assign some distribution and transmission costs to large customers, but observed that the cost of new generation (power plants) may not be covered in the same way and could ultimately affect ratepayers. The board and public commenters raised concerns that rapid growth of data centers may require large investments in generation and transmission that could shift costs to other customers.

Public commenters and board members urged staff to analyze site-suitability, water and energy tradeoffs, potential noise and lighting impacts, business-license and tax-treatment implications (including state-level tax abatements and sales-tax treatment), and possible mitigation measures such as siting clusters in industrial zones, requiring on-site generation, or conditioning approvals on water-conserving cooling systems. Several members suggested TMRPA convene utilities, NV Energy, developers, and jurisdiction staff as part of the review. Smith said staff will pursue outreach, include this review in the strategic work plan, and monitor integrated-resource planning and other NV Energy processes.

Member (unnamed in record) moved the staff-inclusion motion and Member Joe Rodriguez seconded; the motion passed unanimously.