PNM to develop 80MW of solar power in New Mexico

11 January 2010

NYSE-listed New Mexico energy utility PNM and a number of environmental, renewable energy and government groups have agreed to expand solar energy in New Mexico with the addition of 80MW of solar power.

The agreement will form the basis for a new PNM renewable plan following Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson’s assembled of a group of stakeholders to reach a consensus on revising PNM’s plan, which was intended to help achieve the goals in the Green Jobs Cabinet Report from Governor Richardson.

Among other things, the proposal provides a new framework for rapid growth of customer-owned photovoltaic systems by creating a new system of incentives, along with a large-scale utility solar construction programme.

‘Incorporating input from stakeholders is an important part of our decision-making process, so we have spent several months listening to ideas that can do more to promote the development of solar than our original 1 July filing did,’ said Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM president and COO.

New Mexico law requires PNM and other electric utilities by 2011 to have ten per cent of the energy they generate come from renewable resources such as wind and solar, whereas the current requirement is six per cent.

The company said the agreement will lay the groundwork to meet that requirement by including the expansion of incentives for customer-owned solar installations that could grow participation to 24MW and push forward its entry into utility-scale solar with construction of up to 45MW of PNM-owned solar facilities involving hundreds of thousands of panels installed at various sites throughout New Mexico.

‘This agreement shows a serious commitment on behalf of PNM to develop a distributed generation industry in New Mexico. The proposed plan will help New Mexico meet its economic development goals, creating green jobs and an infrastructure that will allow clean energy business to thrive for years to come,’ said Brian Cassutt, board member of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico and finance director for Consolidated Solar Technologies.

As part of the original filing, PNM will continue to pursue the biogas project it proposed in July to help meet the state renewable requirement. Through that project, PNM would rely on fuel derived from dairy waste to help supply its Luna Energy Facility near Deming, New Mexico.

Based on the expected timeline for that approval, PNM could begin construction of the new large-scale solar facilities as early as mid-2010, with the first project operational by early 2011. The company said that the customer-owned facilities would be operational later in 2010 if approval is obtained by mid-year.

Parties to the agreement currently include the Coalition for Clean and Affordable Energy, New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico, Everguard Roofing and Solar and Western Resource Advocates

PNM is a subsidiary of PNM Resources, an energy holding company based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: solar

This story was published on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 6:56 pm and is filed under North America, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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