State commission delays solar farm decision
Two group members received campaign funds from Affordable Solar, the company chosen to build project
An application by El Paso Electric to build a 2-megawatt solar farm in Doña Ana County will go to a hearing examiner for further scrutiny, the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission decided Wednesday.
The commission, on a 4-0 vote, delayed action on the project after learning Affordable Solar had been chosen to build the plant. Officials and others affiliated with the Albuquerque company made substantial contributions to the campaigns of two commissioners facing primary election challenges in June, Sandy Jones and Lynda Lovejoy.
Lovejoy first moved to approve the application with a 60-day waiting period for possible objections. If any were raised, the application would go to a hearing examiner. Lovejoy withdrew the motion after learning Affordable Solar was involved with the project.
Commissioner Valerie Espinoza moved to send the application straight to a hearing examiner. Commissioner Cynthia Hall, attending by phone, seconded that motion; Jones, also on the phone, did not respond during the vote.
Prior to the vote, Lovejoy three times asked the commission’s legal counsel, Russell Fisk, who briefed the commission, to identify the contractor chosen by El Paso Electric. Fisk at first said he didn’t know.
“I understand why commissioners want some of these questions answered now and I’m not prepared to answer them today,” Fisk said. “I could bring it back next week, and I still may not have all the answers next week, or we could just send it to a hearing examiner.”
Nancy Burns, a lawyer for El Paso Electric in the audience, also said she didn’t know which firm El Paso Electric had selected for the job when questioned by Espinoza.
“The name has slipped my mind,” Burns said. She said the contractor was chosen in a competitive bidding process.
“I really think it should go to a hearing examiner to flesh out some of the questions and underline facts,” Espinoza said. “I’d like to know who is the solar company.”
Eventually, 21 minutes into the 24 minutes spent on the application, Fisk found Affordable Solar named in the 171-page application.
“I see a huge conflict with that,” Espinoza said.
In response, Lovejoy withdrew her motion for a straightforward order.
“I may have spoken too quickly in making the motion to approve, I think,” she said.
The New Mexican on May 2 reported Lovejoy received $4,500 in nine separate donations of $500 each from Affordable Solar, related companies and company executives, according to an April campaign finance report. At the time, she
reported $6,000 in total campaign donations.
Jones in April reported that of $20,700 received in donations, $13,000 came from Affordable Solar, related companies, company executives and their family members, according to the newspaper.
In November, the commissioners voted 3-2 to approve the purchase by Public Service Company of New Mexico of five solar farms to be built by Affordable Solar for nearly $73 million. Lyons, Lovejoy and Jones voted for the approval, against a hearing examiner’s recommendation. Espinoza and Hall voted against it. New Energy Economy, an advocacy group in favor of reduced reliance on power generated by nuclear plants and burning of fossil fuels, appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court.
The El Paso Electric solar farm would cost $4.52 million to build, with another $2.6 million in operations and maintenance costs, including outreach to potential consumers. El Paso Electric proposed to recoup its costs by signing up consumers who volunteer to purchase power from the plant at an average $18.55 per kilowatt, or $16.52 per kilowatt-hour for qualified, low-income ratepayers, Fisk said. The cost of solar-generated electricity in the program fluctuates from an average $10.50 higher than ordinary power in summer to a savings of $23.46 in summer, said company spokesman George De La Torre in a telephone interview after the hearing.
El Paso Electric would reap a 30 percent tax credit for building the solar farm. The utility company, which serves 90,000 customers between Anthony and Hatch in the southern part of the state, calls the program “community solar.”
Because the program is voluntary, the company does not need to seek commission approval to bill ratepayers to recoup its investment in the plant, said El Paso Electric spokesman Eddie Gutierrez in a telephone interview. Instead, consumers sign up to receive solar power at a slightly higher cost per kilowatt-hour. As more subscribers sign onto community solar, the cost may eventually fall, he said.
De La Torre declined to say whether other companies bid on the project. “We only ever disclose the contractor that was selected.”
He said El Paso Electric anticipated its application would go to a hearing examiner and the delay would entail no additional costs.