Current work in wildlife, rivers, public lands, and climate

Monday, July 7, 2008
Group Applauds PNM for Exceeding State Renewable Portfolio Standard, Says We Can Do More

New Mexico should be doing more to tap its practically limitless solar and wind power potential
Contact: WildEarth Guardians

Santa Fe – Public Service of New Mexico (PNM), the state’s largest electric utility, recently released its report detailing its compliance with the state’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. PNM is way ahead; it has used far more electricity from clean renewable energy-wind and solar power-than the level currently mandated by state law.

In March 2007, New Mexico passed a law called SB 418, which directs investor-owned utilities like PNM to generate 20% of total retail sales to New Mexico customers from renewable energy resources by 2020, with increasing interim standards. The Renewable Portfolio Standard uses a system of credits to ensure compliance. The company gets credits for each kilowatt-hour of electricity that it generates or buys from clean, renewable energy sources like solar and wind. The state standard for 2007 was 6% of total retail sales to New Mexico customers had to come from renewable energy resources with some exceptions. Last year, PNM had over twice as many credits as they needed to comply with the Renewable Portfolio Standard: the company had 1,196,737,647 credits but only needed 502,754,869. WildEarth Guardians points out that the Renewable Portfolio Standard could have required PNM to have twice as many credits and PNM would have still easily have been in compliance.

Robert Ukeiley, the Climate and Energy Director at WildEarth Guardians said, “We congratulate PNM on its outstanding achievement of having more than twice the number of renewable energy credits. The transition away from dirty fossil fuels and nuclear power and to clean, renewable energy like the sun and wind is critical for preserving New Mexico’s stunning wildlife and wild places as well as the health and economic well being of its residents.” Ukeiley added, “PNM’s proven track record shows that we can and must do better in terms of speeding up the inevitable transition to renewable energy.”

Since SB 418 was passed, several factors have contributed to the conclusion that New Mexico should be doing more to tap its practically limitless solar and wind power potential. These include the continued rise in the cost of fossil fuels and nuclear fuel; San Juan County violating the federal air quality standard from smog, which comes in large part from fossil fuel burning and extraction; and evidence that climate change is and will continue to have dramatic impacts on Western ecosystems.