According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, New
Mexico currently produced only 3.8% of its electricity from solar sources. But
one of its U.S. Senators, Martin Heinrich, is trying to change that.
Late last week, Heinrich unveiled his Solar Toolkit, which
isn’t so much one toolkit as it is five toolkits designed
to provide a roadmap for New Mexican commercial and industrial (C&I)
entities to go solar.
The five specific markets targeted are:
- schools;
- local governments;
- power producers;
- rural businesses; and
- Native American tribes.
In unveiling the toolkits on his official Senatorial website,
Heinrich said he hoped the toolkits provides a launching point for local
governments, tribes, schools, power providers, rural businesses, policymakers
and educational institutions to consider whether solar can meet their needs.
“There is no doubt that solar works for New Mexico,”
Heinrich said. “The installed price of solar is lower than it ever has been,
and more and more communities throughout New Mexico are building solar into
their portfolios.”
Heinrich’s toolkits come at a time when the solar industry
in New Mexico is gaining momentum. In the past seven months alone, the state
has:
- started requiring utilities to include solar+storage in their integrated resource plans moving forward (with overwhelming support from both solar advocates and utilities);
- asked for proposals for to build 465 MW of new projects, including renewables and battery storage, designed to help reach its coal-free goal by 2031; and
- released a new form for solar firms to ensure more transparency in residential solar contracts.
It also comes one year after two conflicting bills – one
that would have put onerous regulations on solar installers and the other would
have boosted renewable portfolio standards considerably – were introduced into
the state’s legislature.
Now with a U.S. Senator involved in promoting the industry’s
growth, it’s increasingly obvious that New Mexico’s solar industry has come
quite far in a year.
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