2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 62 - Electric, Gas and Water Utilities
Article 15 - Rural Electric Cooperatives
Section 62-15-34 - Renewable portfolio standard.
A. Except as provided in Subsection E of this section, each distribution cooperative organized under the Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall meet the renewable portfolio standard requirements, as provided in this section, to include renewable energy in its electric energy supply portfolio as demonstrated by its retirement of renewable energy certificates. Requirements and targets of the renewable portfolio standard are as follows:
(1) no later than January 1, 2015, renewable energy shall comprise no less than five percent of each distribution cooperative's total retail sales to New Mexico customers;
(2) the renewable portfolio standard shall increase by one percent per year thereafter until January 1, 2020, at which time the renewable portfolio standard shall be ten percent of the distribution cooperative's total retail sales to New Mexico customers;
(3) a distribution cooperative shall have the following targets and requirements for renewable energy and zero carbon resources as a percentage of the distribution cooperative's total retail sales in New Mexico:
(a) a requirement of forty percent renewable energy by January 1, 2025;
(b) a requirement of fifty percent renewable energy by January 1, 2030; and
(c) a target of achieving the zero carbon resource standard by January 1, 2050, composed of at least eighty percent renewable energy; provided that: 1) achieving the target is technically feasible; 2) the rural electric cooperative is able to provide reliable electric service while implementing the target; and 3) implementing the target shall not cause electric service to become unaffordable; and
(4) renewable energy resources that are in a distribution cooperative's energy supply portfolio on January 1, 2008 shall be counted in determining compliance with this section.
B. By April 30 of each year, a distribution cooperative shall file with the public regulation commission a report on its purchases and generation of renewable energy during the preceding calendar year. The report shall include the cost of the renewable energy resources purchased and generated by the distribution cooperative to meet the renewable portfolio standard, an explanation of steps taken to minimize those costs, including competitive procurement and comparison of the price of electricity from renewable energy resources in the bids received by the distribution cooperative to recent prices for such electricity elsewhere in the southwestern United States, and an annual compliance plan for meeting the renewable portfolio standard for the following three years.
C. If, in any given year, a distribution cooperative determines that the average annual levelized cost of renewable energy that would need to be procured or generated for purposes of compliance with the renewable portfolio standard would be greater than sixty dollars ($60.00) per megawatt-hour at the point of interconnection of the renewable energy resource with the transmission system, adjusted for inflation after 2020, the distribution cooperative shall not be required to incur that excess cost; provided that the existence of this condition excusing performance in any given year shall not operate to delay compliance with the renewable portfolio standard in subsequent years. The provisions of this subsection do not preclude a distribution cooperative from accepting a project with a cost that would exceed sixty dollars ($60.00) per megawatt-hour.
D. A distribution cooperative shall report to its membership a summary of its purchases and generation of renewable energy during the preceding calendar year.
E. A distribution cooperative organized pursuant to the Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall meet the requirements and targets of the renewable portfolio standard pursuant to Subsection A of this section as demonstrated by the cooperative's retirement of renewable energy certificates associated with energy assigned to the cooperative; provided that a generation and transmission cooperative referred to in Section 62-6-4 NMSA 1978 shall be responsible for meeting the requirements and targets for all energy supplied to the distribution cooperatives in New Mexico. Energy from renewable energy and zero carbon resources that a generation and transmission cooperative supplies in compliance with the requirements and targets shall be verified at the point where the generation and transmission cooperative produces or takes delivery of the energy on behalf of the distribution cooperatives that the generation and transmission cooperative is serving.
History: Laws 2007, ch. 4, § 1; 2014, ch. 24, § 1; 2014, ch. 25, § 1; 2019, ch. 65, § 26.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For the public regulation commission, see 8-8-3 NMSA 1978.
The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, established new targets and requirements regarding New Mexico's renewable energy standard applicable to rural electric cooperatives, removed the requirement that renewable resources be diversified, required that renewable energy comprise forty percent of each cooperative's load by the year 2025, fifty percent by the year 2030, and a target of achieving the zero carbon resource standard by the year 2050, changed a general renewable energy exemption based on cost to a more specific $60/MWh at the generator average cost limit, required rural electric cooperatives to meet the renewable portfolio standard requirements, and provided for verification of energy from renewable and zero carbon resources; in Subsection A, added "Except as provided in Subsection E of this section", after "electric energy supply portfolio", added "as demonstrated by its retirement of renewable energy certificates", after "Requirements", added "and targets", and after "renewable portfolio standard are", added "as follows", and in Paragraph A(3), deleted language requiring the renewable portfolio standard of each distribution cooperative be diversified, and completely rewrote the paragraph; deleted former Subsection B, which provided an exemption based on the cost of renewable energy, and redesignated former Subsection C as Subsection B; in Subsection B, after "renewable portfolio standard", added the remainder of the subsection; and added new Subsections C and E.
The 2014 amendment, effective March 6, 2014, changed the reporting date on purchases and generation of renewable energy for distribution cooperatives; in Subsection A, in Paragraph (3), after "availability", deleted "and"; and in Subsection C, in the first sentence, after "By", changed "March 1" to "April 30".
