Last week, the New Mexico Business Weekly ran two great articles about the PRC fight over renewable energy and monopolization of new installations.
The first article can be found at this link: PNM Wants PRC To Protect Its Turf.
The second is here: PNM's rollback plan gets sunburned.
This issue is really picking up steam. As soon as we have a date for a hearing, I'll post it here.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Terrific Coverage of Our Fight For Clean Energy
I want to share with you a few of the terrific articles and radio spots covering our fight to protect and encourage renewable energy in New Mexico.
The Santa Fe New Mexican ran a great article on Monday, August 17 by Staci Matlock. You can find it here: Legislators Push Case for Third-Party Power Producers.
This morning, Mark Bentley ran a "Dateline New Mexico" piece on 89.1 KANW on the the fight for renewables in New Mexico. You can hear it by clicking the play button below. It's about four minutes.
Also, an article by Michael Hartranft in the Albuquerque Journal from August 2 lays out very well PNM's plan to limit new residential renewable energy installation and REC payments. The article is a must-read. You can find it here: CLICK HERE. Michael did another good article on the third-party fight. You can find that article HERE.
The public support for renewables and the support of legislators and the Governor is incredible. Please join in the fight; send me an email if you'd like to know how to help out. CONTACT ME.
The Santa Fe New Mexican ran a great article on Monday, August 17 by Staci Matlock. You can find it here: Legislators Push Case for Third-Party Power Producers.
This morning, Mark Bentley ran a "Dateline New Mexico" piece on 89.1 KANW on the the fight for renewables in New Mexico. You can hear it by clicking the play button below. It's about four minutes.
Also, an article by Michael Hartranft in the Albuquerque Journal from August 2 lays out very well PNM's plan to limit new residential renewable energy installation and REC payments. The article is a must-read. You can find it here: CLICK HERE. Michael did another good article on the third-party fight. You can find that article HERE.
The public support for renewables and the support of legislators and the Governor is incredible. Please join in the fight; send me an email if you'd like to know how to help out. CONTACT ME.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
The President and I Have Something in Common
Our Birth Certificates!
This can be made here: Kenyan Birth Certificate Generator.
I wonder if I'm eligible to hold my office as State Representative?
Hopefully this humor of this generator will show the "birthers" how ridiculous their claims are.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
More Legislators Join the Brief
Since filing our brief with the PRC, eight more legislators have signed on. They are:
The Honorable Eleanor Chavez
New Mexico Representative, District 13
The Honorable Joni Gutierrez
New Mexico Representative, District 33
The Honorable Clinton Harden
New Mexico Senator, District 7
The Honorable Sandra Jeff,
New Mexico Representative, District 5
The Honorable Patricia Lundstrom,
New Mexico Representative, District 9
The Honorable George Munoz
New Mexico Senator, District 4
The Honorable Cynthia Nava
New Mexico Senator, District 31
The Honorable John Sapien
New Mexico Senator, District 9
Friday, July 31, 2009
Eighteen Legislators Join Me in Critical Renewable Energy Filing
Today I, along with eighteen other legislators from both chambers, filed an important legal brief with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission in support of renewable energy in New Mexico. You can view the brief here:
PRC Brief
In this brief, we argue that the renewable energy financing mechanism called a third-party arrangement is legal under New Mexico law. This is important because there is an effort underway to ban such arrangements, which would devastate the growing renewable energy industry in New Mexico and would severely hamper the ability of companies like Sun Edison to do business in New Mexico.
Third-party arrangements help cities, churches and non-profits (entities that cannot take advantage of tax incentive that support renewable energy because these entities do not have tax liabilities) deploy renewable energy generation. The arrangement allows a company to install solar systems at a customer's location while maintaining ownership of the system. In the arrangement, the third-party owner installs, owns, operates and maintains the PV system, charges the customer for the system based on kilowatt hours (kWhs) produced and receives the benefits of owning the system, including state and federal tax credits, depreciation, tax incentives and private investor-owned utility (IOU) cash incentives. The third-party ownership PPA model is fast becoming "the financing method of choice" in many states because of the low or no initial investment cost to the customer. (See Frantzis, L., "Photovoltaics Business Models", National Renewable Energy Laboratory Subcontract Report 581-42304, February 2008.).
In the ongoing effort to support and extend the reach of solar, this case will me a major milestone. Please stay tuned.
The legislators who signed on to my brief are:
The Honorable Ben R. Lujan
Speaker of the House, District 46
The Honorable Mary Jane Garcia
Senate Majority Whip, District 36
The Honorable Sheryl Williams-Stapleton
House Majority Whip, District 19
The Honorable Carlos Cisneros
New Mexico Senator, District 6
The Honorable Nathan Cote
New Mexico Representative, District 53
The Honorable Dede Feldman
New Mexico Senator, District 13
The Honorable Steven Fischmann
New Mexico Senator, District 37
The Honorable Timothy Keller
New Mexico Senator, District 17
The Honorable Lynda Lovejoy
New Mexico Senator, District 22
The Honorable Antonio Lujan
New Mexico Representative, District 35
The Honorable Roger Madalena
New Mexico Representative, District 65
The Honorable Antonio Maestas
New Mexico Representative, District 16
The Honorable Cisco McSorley
New Mexico Senator, District 16
The Honorable Jerry Ortiz y Pino
New Mexico Senator, District 12
The Honorable Benjamin Rodefer
New Mexico Representative, District 23
The Honorable Sander Rue
New Mexico Senator, District 23
The Honorable Jeff Steinborn
New Mexico Representative, District 37
The Honorable Mimi Stewart
New Mexico Representative, District 21
PRC Brief
In this brief, we argue that the renewable energy financing mechanism called a third-party arrangement is legal under New Mexico law. This is important because there is an effort underway to ban such arrangements, which would devastate the growing renewable energy industry in New Mexico and would severely hamper the ability of companies like Sun Edison to do business in New Mexico.
Third-party arrangements help cities, churches and non-profits (entities that cannot take advantage of tax incentive that support renewable energy because these entities do not have tax liabilities) deploy renewable energy generation. The arrangement allows a company to install solar systems at a customer's location while maintaining ownership of the system. In the arrangement, the third-party owner installs, owns, operates and maintains the PV system, charges the customer for the system based on kilowatt hours (kWhs) produced and receives the benefits of owning the system, including state and federal tax credits, depreciation, tax incentives and private investor-owned utility (IOU) cash incentives. The third-party ownership PPA model is fast becoming "the financing method of choice" in many states because of the low or no initial investment cost to the customer. (See Frantzis, L., "Photovoltaics Business Models", National Renewable Energy Laboratory Subcontract Report 581-42304, February 2008.).
In the ongoing effort to support and extend the reach of solar, this case will me a major milestone. Please stay tuned.
The legislators who signed on to my brief are:
The Honorable Ben R. Lujan
Speaker of the House, District 46
The Honorable Mary Jane Garcia
Senate Majority Whip, District 36
The Honorable Sheryl Williams-Stapleton
House Majority Whip, District 19
The Honorable Carlos Cisneros
New Mexico Senator, District 6
The Honorable Nathan Cote
New Mexico Representative, District 53
The Honorable Dede Feldman
New Mexico Senator, District 13
The Honorable Steven Fischmann
New Mexico Senator, District 37
The Honorable Timothy Keller
New Mexico Senator, District 17
The Honorable Lynda Lovejoy
New Mexico Senator, District 22
The Honorable Antonio Lujan
New Mexico Representative, District 35
The Honorable Roger Madalena
New Mexico Representative, District 65
The Honorable Antonio Maestas
New Mexico Representative, District 16
The Honorable Cisco McSorley
New Mexico Senator, District 16
The Honorable Jerry Ortiz y Pino
New Mexico Senator, District 12
The Honorable Benjamin Rodefer
New Mexico Representative, District 23
The Honorable Sander Rue
New Mexico Senator, District 23
The Honorable Jeff Steinborn
New Mexico Representative, District 37
The Honorable Mimi Stewart
New Mexico Representative, District 21
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Governor Signs HB 572 - Solar Financing Bill Becomes Law!
Today, at the Santa Fe Community College's Biomass-powered heating facility, Governor Richardson signed HB 572, my solar financing bill. It was a terrific event at which the Governor also signed a broad range of clean energy bills that encourage development of new renewable energy technologies, incentivize the hiring of new employees for green-collar jobs, and allow counties to issue bonds to pay for new training programs in the renewable energy industry.
Here is the Governor signing the bill:
Here the Governor gives me the pen he used to sign the bill:
Now, the effort moves to the county governments, who must use these new tools to implement solar financing programs.
Here is the Governor signing the bill:
Here the Governor gives me the pen he used to sign the bill:
Now, the effort moves to the county governments, who must use these new tools to implement solar financing programs.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Discussing the Solar Revolution on KNME
On Friday, I appeared on KNME Channel 5 (our NM PBS station) to discuss solar energy and the big changes our legislative session made to the solar landscape. I spoke about my solar finance bill, HB 572, and about solar gaining wider adopting and recognition as a cost-effective means of generating electricity.
You may find the video by clicking HERE. If you would like to skip to the segment where I appear, click the progress bar at the bottom of the viewer to 16:25.
You may find the video by clicking HERE. If you would like to skip to the segment where I appear, click the progress bar at the bottom of the viewer to 16:25.
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