New Mexico Public Regulation Commission to consider energy storage requirements
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (NMPRC) announced this week that it would consider adding energy storage resources to a list of technologies that electric utilities are required to include in their resource portfolios.
The Rule on Integrated Resource Plans for Electric Utilities (IRP Rule) directs investor-owned electric utilities to regularly evaluate the feasibility of deploying renewable energy, energy efficiency, load management, distributed generation and conventional supply-side resources. It requires the utilities to consider relevant risk factors in order to determine the most cost-effective set of resources for meeting customers’ energy needs.
In 2007, when the rule was enacted, commercially feasible energy storage technologies were not available and so were not included in the IRP Rule. Utilities have now begun to utilize technologies that capture energy and store it for use at a later time.
NMPRC will hold one or more workshops and a public comment hearing on the IRP Rule. The Commission is also accepting written comments. Commission Vice-Chair Cynthia Hall was appointed as the presiding officer of the Rulemaking Public Comment Hearing, which is scheduled for May 31.
Participants at the workshops will discuss a number of issues including current and planned use of energy storage technologies, potential benchmarks for energy storage resources and ideas for developing a larger energy storage industry in the state.
