May 4, 2018 • Local News
Santa Fe New Mexican: Solar firm gives to PRC members after vote in its favor
A hearing examiner for the state Public Regulation Commission in October recommended commissioners reject a proposal by Public Service Company of New Mexico to purchase five solar farms to be built for the electric utility by the firm Affordable Solar.
“This was not a difficult call,” wrote examiner Carolyn Glick, who said PNM had failed to show the purchase was the most cost-effective way for the company to procure solar power.
Other PRC staff also opposed commission approval of the PNM’s project with Affordable Solar, a privately held Albuquerque company founded two decades ago.
But in November, the commissioners voted 3-2 to reject the recommendations of the hearing examiner and other staff, saying they disagreed with the examiner’s finding that PNM’s process of seeking proposals for supplying solar power was unfair to some bidders.
The three votes for the Affordable Solar project came from Patrick Lyons, Lynda Lovejoy and Sandy Jones, the PRC chairman.
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