On November 14, 2024, in response to a petition filed by Renewable Energy Industries Association, the Coalition for Community Solar Access, and Prosperity Works, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission issued an order  granting a variance that sets the deadline for community solar projects to achieve the minimum 30% level of low-income subscribers no later than a project’s commercial operation date. Previously, the Commission had granted a variance which set the deadline as the earlier of a project’s commercial operation date or 12 months from the signing of a valid [...]

The Community Solar Rule requires any applicant seeking selection of their project bid for the New Mexico Community Solar Program to provide “a utility pre-application report or an equivalent report by the utility.” 17.9.573.12(B)(3) NMAC. The Program Administrator understands that potential applicants have been requesting such reports from the qualifying utilities in anticipation of a solicitation for the recently approved 300 MW of additional program capacity. The Commission has not set a timeline for a solicitation for this capacity, nor determined what amount of this allowed capacity it will solicit. [...]

On October 3, 2024, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission issued an order to increase the capacity of the New Mexico Community Solar Program by an additional 300 MW, effective November 1, 2024. The Commission has not set a date for a solicitation to fill the new capacity. According to the order, “Raising the Cap now does not commit the Commission to conducting the second round at any particular time but will ensure that, if the Commission finds that the second round should go forward in the near future, [...]

Subscriber Organizations are required to secure customers’ signature on Disclosure Forms before the customer signs a subscription agreement. If a Subscriber Organization (or its Subscription Managers, if applicable) chooses to have customers sign their Disclosure Form and subscription agreement as part of an online enrollment journey, then the Subscriber Organization is required to obtain prior approval from the Program Administrator before it starts having customers sign Disclosure Forms and subscription agreements. This requirement is detailed on page 18 of the New Mexico Community Solar Program Guidebook. This allows the Program Administrator [...]

As a clarification to the June 5, 2024 project selection protocol announcement, per the Public Regulation Commission’s April 18, 2024 order, the Program Administrator must consider the bid size of a waitlisted project to determine its eligibility for selection without exceeding the 20% developer cap. Per the order, “In determining whether there would be such a violation, the Program Administrator would rely upon the information provided in the bid application for the waitlisted project.” Even if a waitlisted project has downsized, the project’s original size will be considered when applying [...]

It has been brought to our attention that an additional comma in the New Mexico Community Solar Program Guidebook may  lead to confusion regarding  who qualifies as a subscriber under the program.  In Section 4 on p.13 and Section 6 on p.22, an unintended comma was added after the word “residential” in the definition of subscriber. The definition should match the wording in Section 2.L of the Community Solar Act: “…that is by rate class a residential retail customer or a small commercial retail customer…” We apologize for any inconvenience [...]

We are excited to share some major improvements! The Program Administrator has launched a refresh of the New Mexico Community Solar website, updated certain program documents, and implemented enhancements to the program portal. Refreshed website. The program website at csnewmexico.com now has a new look and feel, a more streamlined user experience, and better organization of resources for Subscriber Organizations (SOs) and subscribers. Updated program flyer. The program flyer, available here in both English and Spanish, has been edited to better highlight the savings possible with community solar. Updated Disclosure [...]

Deadline Extended for Low-Income Subscriptions Enrollment in Community Solar In response to a petition filed by the Coalition for Community Solar Access Prosperity Works, the Renewable Energy Industries Association, New Energy Economy, and Vote Solar, The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission granted a variance from the August 1, 2024 deadline for community solar projects to achieve the minimum thirty percent level of low-income subscriptions. The new deadline is 12 months from the signing of a valid interconnection agreement with the utility, or by the commercial operation date of the project, whichever [...]

Please note that the program administrator, in collaboration with the PRC, has made a minor revision to the Disclosure Form, updating the “[see Note on Page 2]” reference to “[See Note Section]” to accommodate varying page lengths. Both the English and Spanish versions have been updated. Watermarked versions of the Disclosure Form are posted on the public section of the program website here. Subscriber Organizations of selected projects may access non-watermarked versions available in the Dashboard tab of the program portal. Please use the updated versions of the Disclosure Form moving forward. [...]