New Mexico § 62-16-5 - Renewable energy certificates; commission duties

§ 62-16-5. Renewable energy certificates; commission duties

A. The commission shall establish: (1) a system of renewable energy certificates that can be used by a public utility

to establish compliance with the renewable portfolio standard and that may include

certificates that are monitored, accounted for or transferred by or through a regional

system or trading program for any region in which a public utility is located; and (2) requirements and procedures concerning requirements for renewable energy certificates

pursuant to Subsections B and C of this section. B. Renewable energy certificates: (1) are owned by the generator of the renewable energy unless: (a) the renewable energy certificates are transferred to the purchaser of the electricity

through specific agreement with the generator; (b) the generator is a qualifying facility, as defined by the federal Public Utility

Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, in which case the renewable energy certificates are

owned by the public utility purchaser of the renewable energy; (c) a contract for the purchase of renewable energy is in effect prior to July 1,

2019, in which case the renewable energy certificates are owned by the purchaser of

the electricity for the term of such contract, unless otherwise agreed to in a contract

approved by the commission; or (d) the generator is a community solar facility, excluding a native community solar

project, as those terms are defined in the Community Solar Act, in which case the

renewable energy certificates are owned by the public utility to whose electric distribution

system the community solar facility is interconnected; (2) may be traded, sold or otherwise transferred by their owner, unless the certificates

are from a rate-based public utility plant, in which case the entirety of the renewable

energy certificates from that plant shall be retired by the utility on behalf of itself

or its customers. Any contract to purchase renewable energy entered into by a public utility on or

after July 1, 2019 shall include conveyance to the purchasing utility of all renewable

energy certificates, and the entirety of those certificates shall be retired by that

utility on behalf of itself or its customers or subsequently transferred to a retail

customer for retirement under a voluntary program for purchasing renewable energy

approved by the commission. A utility shall not claim that it is providing renewable energy from generation

resources for which it has traded, sold or transferred the associated renewable energy

certificates. The commission shall not disallow the recovery of the cost associated with any expired

renewable energy certificate. The public utility shall annually file a report with the commission discussing: (a) its use, sale, trading or transfer of renewable energy certificates; and (b) whether and how its public claims of renewable energy generation account for renewable

energy certificates that it has traded, sold or transferred; (3) that are used for the purpose of meeting the renewable portfolio standard shall

be registered with a renewable energy generation information system that is designed

to create and track ownership of renewable energy certificates and that, through the

use of independently audited generation data, verifies the generation and delivery

of electricity associated with each renewable energy certificate and protects against

multiple counting of the same renewable energy certificate; and (4) may be carried forward for up to four years from the date of issuance to establish

compliance with the renewable portfolio standard, after which they shall be deemed

retired by the public utility. C. A public utility shall be responsible for demonstrating that a renewable energy

certificate used for compliance with the renewable portfolio standard is derived from

eligible renewable energy resources.