Sandoval, Reid co-host National Clean Energy Summit at Bellagio

About 380 environmentalists and members of the energy industry are expected to convene at the Bellagio today for the ninth-annual National Clean Energy Summit.

Gov. Brian Sandoval and former Sen. Harry Reid are co-hosting the event, which has a lineup of speakers including Nobel Laureate and former Vice President Al Gore. Previous summits have included former President Barack Obama and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Many of today’s panels reflect the “Integrating Innovation” theme of this year’s summit. Sandoval will lead a governors’ panel on how states benefit from investing in innovation and supporting clean energy initiatives.

Tina Quigley, general manager of the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada, will discuss advancing electric vehicle technology and what that means for transportation systems.

Nevada recently rebooted its net-metering program, which many in the solar industry say is necessary to fairly compensate homeowners for the excess energy they give back to the grid and encourage more residents to install panels.

The summit comes days after the Environmental Protection Agency recommended that the Obama-era Clean Power Plan be eliminated as an overreach of authority. The plan called for carbon reduction targets, among other steps.

The Clean Power Plan was developed under former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, who is also slated to speak at the summit. He’s expected to discuss new clean-energy technologies and how they can be utilized broadly.

Speakers will also discuss integrating innovation in the energy grid and in building construction.

The summit kicked off Thursday night, with panels scheduled for Friday and tours for participants on Saturday at locations such as Sempra Energy’s Copper Mountain Solar Complex.