November 2, 2018 • EPE Related News
Las Cruces Sun News: N.M. Public Regulation Commission rejects community solar project for Doña Ana County
LAS CRUCES - The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Wednesday voted to kill an El Paso Electric proposal to build a community solar project in Doña Ana County.
The PRC voted 3-2 to approve a motion from Santa Fe-based renewable energy advocacy group New Energy Economy, an intervener in the case, to reject the proposal.
The project was highly controversial, with opponents claiming that solar energy produced by El Paso Electric’s proposed project would have been too costly, while supporters argued that the project would have provided low-income county residents access to community solar. The city of Las Cruces opposed the project.
“We want to open the economy to allow utility competitors to produce low-cost solar and wind,” said Mariel Nanasi, executive director of New Energy Economy, in a posting on the organization’s website.
The commission rejected the proposal without ever holding hearings on it. The project inspired such heated rhetoric, in fact, that El Paso Electric in September filed a request to withdraw its proposal because of the anticipated cost of litigation, though that request was denied.
“I think we needed to hear the case and see what the merits were,” said PRC Chairman Sandy Jones, who voted against the motion to reject the project. “To me, it’s important that the state start looking at community solar. Forty other states are already doing this.”
El Paso Electric in April applied for approval to build the small, two-megawatt community solar facility near the intersection of I-10 and I-25 in Doña Ana County. Community solar refers to solar systems that provide solar power to customers who choose to participate. They can be company-operated plants or community-owned facilities.
The facility would have provided power to about 1,000 homes. El Paso Electric promised to reserve 10 percent of the power from the facility for low-income residents, who would have received a 10 percent discount on the cost. The program was to be voluntary. Customers could opt to subscribe to solar generation in 1 kilowatt blocks.
El Paso Electric operates a three-megawatt community solar facility in El Paso that began operating in June 2017. The pilot program was fully subscribed one month after the company started selling subscriptions, with several hundred people choosing to put their names on a waiting list.
Officials at El Paso Electric were not surprised by Wednesday’s decision, given how much opposition the project faced, though they expressed disappointment previously when the company filed a motion to withdraw the proposal.
George De La Torre, an El Paso Electric spokesman, said that company has no definite plans at present to submit a new proposal to the PRC.
“We believe New Mexico customers want and deserve this,” he said. “We will work with all interested parties about a future filing. It’s going to take some time, so we can work with all interested parties. We feel like we can get there.”
New Energy Economy, the most vocal opponent of the proposal, argued that power produced by the project was more expensive than for similar projects elsewhere and that it could provide solar energy for lower cost if it bought it from an independent, third-party, producer.
The organization reported, for example, that Amarillo, Texas-based Southwestern Public Service, which serves large parts of eastern New Mexico, had contracted with an independent solar producer to provide electricity at a cost 42 percent less than the El Paso Electric project.
The city of Las Cruces opposed the project because officials believe lower-cost options are available and that if the project was approved it would have reduced the likelihood other projects would have been considered in the future.
“We support the concept,” Mayor Ken Miyagishima said, “but we feel residents can get a better rate if we can find another proposal. What El Paso Electric was proposing wasn’t as a good a deal as probably could be had if we could have a third-party arrangement.”
The El Paso Electric proposal was also contentious because two current commissioners received donations from Affordable Solar, the company that would have built the community solar facility for El Paso Electric.
Jones received a $13,000 donation from Affordable Solar, while Commissioner Linda Lovejoy received a $4,500 donation. Jones voted against Wednesday’s motion to reject El Paso Electric’s proposal, while Lovejoy voted for it.
Both Jones and Lovejoy were defeated in their bids for reelection in June’s primary election.
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