I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
New Mexico has huge potential to produce electricity from renewable sources like wind and solar, but a small window to develop transmission lines to deliver that power to customers, the Associated Press reports.
The wire service quotes a New Mexico lawmaker who heard the first statewide transmission report from the state’s Renewable Energy Transmission Authority.
The AP goes on to report:
“The issue is transmission. If we don’t have any more transmission, there will be no more renewable projects in the state of New Mexico and that is critical for our future. It’s a multibillion dollar opportunity,” said Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa.
The state will lose out to other states if it doesn’t do something in the next three to four years, he said.
Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota already have established transmission authorities, and Colorado has prepared a renewable energy transmission report, said Jeremy Turner, RETA executive director. Neighboring Texas has been working for the last few years to identify its clean and renewable energy zones.
The Richardson administration successfully pushed for creation of the authority in 2007 as a way to develop a renewable energy generation and export industry.
The quasi-government authority was envisioned as a tool the state could use to plan, finance, build and operate electric transmission lines and power storage facilities.
In addition to giving the state a way to plug gaps in New Mexico’s power grid, it was seen as a tool to tap into regional transmission systems that could move electricity from generation projects— such as wind farms in New Mexico— to growing power markets in the West, such as California.
