CARSON CITY (AP) - A state committee is recommending that power companies spend about $3 billion on transmission lines to connect renewable energy sites in rural Nevada to existing lines.

The Nevada Renewable Energy Transmission Access Advisory Committee proposed companies use tax-exempt state bonds to pay for constructing lines to transmit a potential 7,500 megawatts of renewable energy.

In a report delivered to Gov. Jim Gibbons, committee members said they have identified energy zones in Nevada that could produce more than 5,000 megawatts of solar, 1,000 megawatts of wind and 1,500 megawatts of geothermal power.

Most of the renewable energy is in central Nevada and some is a considerable distance from existing transmission lines.