For immediate release

New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce
Contact :  Allan Oliver – CEO, NMGCC
(505) 553-0759
allan@nmgreenchamber.com

NM Green Chamber of Commerce Applauds PRC Ruling on the Reasonable Cost Threshold

The New Mexico Public Regulations Commission in a 4 to 1 decision voted today to keep New Mexico’s solar diversity target at 20 percent.  It has taken the PRC more than 17 months to issue this rule.  Several interveners-including Attorney General Gary King and New Mexico Independent Energy Consumers had advocated for reducing or eliminating solar in the renewable energy mix.   This decision provides greater certainty for renewable energy companies seeking to grow their business.

In the ruling the Commission decided the following:

• to increase the wind diversity target to 30 percent and reduce the “other” target category for biofuels, geothermal and biomass from 10 percent to 5 percent.
• to keep the Reasonable Cost Threshold at 3 percent for 2013 through 2015.
• to require utilities to account for savings from avoided fuel and purchased power costs

“Maintaining the current mix of renewable energy is important in that it allows consumers to participate in renewable energy power generation and allows the renewable energy industry to create local New Mexico jobs”, according to Odes Armijo-Castor, Chief Operating Officer for Sacred Power, a Native American owned utility-scale solar provider in New Mexico.

Commissioners Jason Marks and Douglas Howe were determined to put the issue to a vote before they left office but needed one more vote to get the rules heard today, which came from Commissioner Theresa Becenti-Aguilar.

“Today is a win for small and large renewable energy companies across our state.  The Commission had a very thoughtful debate on an issue that is crucial to building a robust and diverse renewable energy portfolio in New Mexico,” said Allan Oliver, CEO NM Green Chamber of Commerce.  “Commissioner Becenti Aguilar articulated it best when she described this vote as a vote for economic development in our state.   Commissioners Marks and Howe deserve credit for working with dozens of stakeholders over the course of many months to seek to determine what was best for the renewable sector as a whole.”

The New Mexico Green Chamber of Commerce spearheaded efforts to get the rules heard by the current PRC Commissioners and generated hundreds of signatures from businesses that support clean energy in New Mexico.