The Santa Fe County Board of County Commissioners unanimously voted today to intervene in a case contesting PNM's plan to reduce renewable energy credits beginning in 2012.
Renewable energy credits (REC) are part of PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico)'s diversification of its portfolio under state and federal regulations. Individual rate payers who have solar panels, for instance, get a credit to their account for each kilowatt hour of energy their renewable system creates. About one year ago, in September 2010, each kilowatt hour was worth 11-13 cents, depending on the type of renewable energy system the rate payer was using. It's now six to nine cents, and is scheduled to be cut to only two cents.
County Commissioner Kathy Holian introduced the resolution to intervene in the case, which is being heard by the Public Regulation Commission.
"The reason for intervention is then...the county can participate in negotiations of what will happen going forward," Holian told her fellow board members, county staff and observers. "It's important for us here to strongly support maintaining incentives for solar projects."
Santa Fe County Energy Program Specialist Craig O'Hare said the REC decrease would cause solar projects to no longer make financial sense for people to pursue. Although solar and other renewable energy technology is becoming less expensive, it won't be affordable enough for the next couple of years to be a realistic option for most rate payers without a reasonable incentive, O'Hare said. He called the two-cent rate "ridiculously low."
O'Hare said PNM is shifting toward building large solar farms as a cheaper way to meet portfolio diversity requirements.
"Ultimately it gets down to, for PNM, what's the best bang for the buck in getting solar megawatts onto the system to comply with diversity requirements—that's their main objective here," O'Hare said. "That's to go out and build 20-30 megawatt large solar farms as opposed to stimulating rooftop solar."
A PNM spokesman didn't immediately return a call for comment.
