Nevada Power and its parent, Sierra Pacific Resources, are planning big things for the state, reports the Review-Journal. The companies announced a $5 billion plan to link both ends of the state for the first time.

The Ely Energy Center, which will cost $5 billion, would be the biggest energy project in Nevada since the construction of the Hoover Dam. The plan will mean less of its power will come from gas-fired generators that were once thought to be the clean and low-cost alternative to coal.

The first of two 750-megawatt, coal-fired power units would start generating power in the Steptoe Valley near Ely by 2011. The 250-mile transmission line would carry the electricity to Southern and Northern Nevada that same year. That would be followed by a second plant. The link will also make it possible to include power from wind farms in Eastern Nevada.

The announcement also seems to throw into doubt plans from other energy companies to build plants to sell power to Sierra Pacific and Nevada Power.

With an apt cliche, Higgins summer the situation up thus: “We see again the importance of not having our eggs in one basket.”