According to The Interwest Energy Alliance, Senator Jose Campos (D-Santa
Rosa) introduced legislation (HB 111) creating a New Mexico Renewable
Energy Transmission Authority to export some of the state's vast clean
energy resources in wind, solar and biomass energy. Senator Michael
Sanchez (D-Belen) has introduced a companion bill, SB 317.
Governor Bill Richardson has called for the development of 4,000 to 6,000
MW of wind energy in the state, along with 700 to 1,300 MW of solar and
biomass energy. Most of this clean energy would be developed for export,
since New Mexico requires only 3,000-4,000 MW of capacity for its own
needs. Large capacity electric transmission lines could export the energy
to nearby metropolitan areas in other states.
"Senator Campos' bill would help make Governor Richardson's vision a
profitable reality for New Mexico," said the Interwest Energy Alliance,
which added that the bill "would open the door for unprecedented new local
economic development opportunities throughout rural parts of the state."
Warren Byrne of Foresight Wind Energy, LLC, a San Francisco-based wind
project developer said there are also a number of other proposals to
develop long-haul high-voltage transmission lines to bring wind resources
from the interior West to power markets in Arizona and the West Coast.
"New Mexico's wind resource is world-class, but without the transmission
to deliver this clean energy to markets, New Mexico could be left out of
the booming market for clean energy," Byrne said.
The demand for renewable energy from California alone is growing rapidly,
given its aggressive 20-percent renewable energy standard and the
California Energy Commission's recent decision to prohibit imports of new
coal-fired electricity from other states.
"A Renewable Energy Transmission Authority would give New Mexico a
tremendous competitive advantage in exporting its huge and inexhaustible
wind energy resource to other states throughout the West," said the
Interwest Energy Alliance.