Renewable power in N.M. receives a boost

 

Aug 3 - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News - Adam Rankin Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

New Mexico, already known as an energy state for its vast oil and gas reserves, is poised to make a name for itself as a renewable energy state, according to some.

"I think the prospect (for renewable energy) is huge for New Mexico -- the stars are lining up as far as I can see it," said Charles Hanley of Sandia National Laboratories' renewable energy program. "It is an energy state."

Hanley said he would like to see New Mexico take advantage of its natural resources, political connections and national laboratory brain power to become a manufacturing hub for clean energy technologies.

That is a future Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said he thinks is possible if companies and consumers here take advantage of tax incentives and credits included in the recently passed energy bill, expected to be signed into law on Monday by President Bush in Albuquerque. It will be the first major energy legislation passed in more than a decade.

"I think it is probably the most significant legislation that we have passed to encourage renewables," Bingaman said.

Bingaman, Hanley and more than 100 others gathered in Santa Fe for the last day of the 2005 Southwest Renewable Energy Conference. During his talk, Bingaman highlighted what he said were "helpful" renewable energy provisions included in the energy bill, as well as those that were left out.

With the passage of the energy bill, Bingaman said there will be more opportunities for consumers and energy producers in New Mexico to support renewable energy sources.

"On balance, I support the energy bill," Bingaman told the group on Tuesday.

He pointed to measures that extend tax incentives for solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and other renewable energy sources as positive aspects of the bill. Other positive additions include tax credits for residential use of solar hot water systems and domestic hydrogen fuel-cell units, among still others.

Though many of the provisions were watered down and the energy bill no longer includes a national requirement to derive a percentage of its energy generation from renewable sources, Bingaman said that what was left in place takes the country in the right direction toward a cleaner energy future.

"These are not all that we wanted, but they help, and I think they are significant," he said.

The conference was sponsored by research and conservation groups and energy companies, including the Public Service Co. of New Mexico, Sandia and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories, Western Resource Advocates and others.

As the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee, Bingaman had a hand in working to shape provisions in the bill with his counterparts across the political aisle, particularly Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who shepherded the measure through its final passage.

In a statement released Tuesday, Domenici said it is fitting that Bush plans to sign the energy bill in New Mexico, "where energy of all types is so important to our state."