Community Solar Additional Information

Information for Developers

• Can be owned by a qualifying utility, municipality, or county, for-profit or nonprofit entity or organization, Indian nation, tribe or pueblo, or local tribal governance structure authorized to conduct business in New Mexico.

• Cannot be subsidized by nonsubscribers unless the NMPRC deems it to benefit the public. If the PRC deems that subsidization by nonsubscribers is in the public interest, subsidization by nonsubscribers shall be capped at three percent (3%).

• Community Solar facilities must reserve 30% of the capacity at each facility for low-income customers and low-income service organizations.

• May be co-located with other energy sources, but they shall not be co-located with another community solar development.

• Must be in the PNM subscribers localized service territory.

Roles and Responsibilities

New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC)

New Mexico's Community Solar Act requires that the NMPRC develop and enforce rules to establish a community solar program by April 1, 2022 which address several matters including:

• initial statewide program of 200 MW allocated proportionally to investor-owned utilities until November 1, 2024; then develop the subsequent statewide program that would be effective after November 1, 2024.

• 30 percent (30%) of each community solar facility's capacity must be reserved for low-income customers and low-income service organizations, with guidelines for program compliance and customer pre-qualification.

• a process for project selection and allocation of the capacity cap.

• requiring affected public utilities to file tariffs, agreements or forms necessary to implement the community solar program.

• standards, fees, and processes for the interconnection of community solar facilities allowing for the recovery of reasonable interconnection costs and of reasonable administrative program costs.

• consumer protections including multi-lingual disclosure requirements to potential subscribers about future costs and benefits as well as key contract terms.

• a community solar bill credit mechanism based on an aggregate retail rate by customer class less commission approved distribution cost components.

• safeguards to ensure a qualifying utility and its non-subscribing customers do not subsidize the cost for subscribers at no more than 3% of the aggregate retail rate annually, if the commission determines it is in the public's best interest.

• reasonable opportunities for the creation, financing, and accessibility of community solar facilities.

• requirements for the siting and co-location of community solar facilities. For this rulemaking process, the commission is to solicit input from stakeholders including state agencies, utilities, low-income organizations, disproportionately impacted communities, potential owners or operators, Indian nations, tribes or pueblos, and other interested parties.

• The NMPRC is also required to solicit input to establish the program from:

  • Relevant state agencies

  • Public utilities

  • Low-income stakeholders

  • Disproportionately impacted communities

  • Owners of CS facilities

  • Indian nations, tribes and pueblos and other interested parties in its rulemaking process

PNM

Through the New Mexico Community Solar Act, PNM will be required to:

• Acquire the entire output from the community solar developments.

• Apply the community solar bill credit that is established through the NMPRC rule making process to subscriber bills.

• Track any "carry over" of any excess energy and apply to the next monthly bill.

• Track the total value of bill credits generated by the community solar facility as well as the amount of the community solar bill credits applied to each subscriber.

• Receive all renewable energy credits associated with each development.

• Interconnection:

  • PNM will follow the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission "Small Generator Interconnection Process" which applies to solar system sizes between 0 and 20 MW.

  • Additional interconnection guidelines will follow the NMPRC's rulemaking which is scheduled to be available April 1, 2022.