Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is hosting the annual conference. (File)

LAS VEGAS (August 7, 2012)--The politics of renewable energy tops the agenda in the battleground state of Nevada, where Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is hosting a fifth annual green energy conference at a Las Vegas Strip resort.

Reid and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar opened the Tuesday event touting the start of a 12-square-mile wind energy farm in Nevada's White Pine County.

Pattern Energy's Spring Valley project is the first wind major wind farm in Nevada.

Ending the conference will be an afternoon “fireside chat” involving former President Bill Clinton and his former White House chief of staff, John Podesta, followed by a closing speech by Reid.

Clean wind, solar and geothermal energy, and the failure of some projects are key issues in the campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney.