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.
The state Public Regulation Commission (PRC) has scaled down the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM)’s proposed renewable energy procurement portfolio, which depended heavily on traditional photovoltaic solar electric facilities to meet state-mandated renewable energy requirements.
The Commission cut PNM’s proposed construction of new solar photovoltaic plants from a proposed 84 megawatts down to 45 megawatts, citing an original $40 million project price tag that would have been passed along to consumers. The approved projects will cost much less — about $15 million.
Electric utilities in New Mexico must generate 10 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2011. At least 20 percent of renewable energy must come from solar sources.
PNM will meet its state-mandated renewable energy requirements with purchases from a solar electric thermal facility in Belen and for a solar storage demonstration.
“PNM’s original plan came in way too expensive,” Commissioner Jason Marks said. “Commissioners reached a compromise rather than throw the whole plan out and start from scratch. I think it’s a win-win solution because it moves us forward while keeping it under our reasonable-cost threshold.”
Limiting PNM’s investments in solar plants now will encourage the company to invest in other solar and renewable generation capacity in the near future, Marks said. Photovoltaic plants cannot efficiently store energy over night or during overcast days, Marks said.
Marks has championed efforts to build solar-thermal plants in the state. Solar-thermal plants are a younger and currently more expensive technology that allows storage of solar-derived electricity for non-peak production times – a system better suited to conditions in the desert Southwest, Marks said.
Solar thermal plants’ costs are expected to drop over coming years, as the technology becomes more widely used, Marks said.
PNM’s original proposal met fierce opposition from consumer and environmental groups because the company had planned to reduce its support for rooftop “distributed production” solar systems.
“In the end, we’ll get more solar for less money,” Marks said. “We’re protecting the ratepayers from excessive cost impacts right now and also leaving some money available under our cost caps to implement new programs, as opportunities arise.”
