New Mexico regulators approve solar, biomass plans
By Rosalie Rayburn, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. -- Dec. 22
State regulators Tuesday approved a PNM plan to spend up to $1.4 million on solar and biomass projects to comply with a state renewable energy law.
The state's largest utility also plans to spend about $850,000 to study the
feasibility of building a biomass plant capable of producing at least 10
megawatts of electricity from organic material such as forest thinnings. A
megawatt is enough for about 800 households.
PNM has not yet picked potential sites for either plant.
The utility also plans to set aside about $200,000 for a program to give
incentives to individual customers who want to install solar photovoltaic panels
and sell electricity back to the utility. PNM is working with Gov. Bill
Richardson's Distributed Renewable Energy Task Force to have a program ready to
implement late in 2005.
Some utilities, such as Tucson Electric Power in Arizona and Austin Energy in
Texas, already have programs that offer customers rebates or attractive prices
for solar power.
"We will be looking at other programs and draft our own," said PNM
spokesman Don Brown. A state law passed this year requires utilities to derive 5
percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2006, rising to 10
percent by 2011. The law requires each of the state's three investor-owned
utilities to submit their renewable plans to the Public Regulation Commission
for approval.
Regulators also approved renewable energy plans on Tuesday for Xcel Energy
and El Paso Electric. Xcel's plan focused on wind energy. Minneapolis,
Minn.-based Xcel, which has 108,000 customers in eastern New Mexico, has a
1.98-megawatt wind farm at Texico-Farwell near Clovis. Xcel also plans to
complete an 80-megawatt wind farm near Tucumcari and a 125-megawatt farm at
Elida, between Roswell and Portales.
El Paso plans to buy wind power from PNM to comply with the requirement.
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