Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A.
Each public utility shall annually establish its compliance with the renewable
portfolio standard through the filing of an annual report, as provided in
17.9.572.19 NMAC, documenting the
retirement of renewable energy certificates.
B. Non-WREGIS registered RECs shall contain
the following information:
(1) the name and
contact information of the renewable energy generating facility owner or
operator;
(2) the name and contact
information of the public utility or rural electric distribution cooperative
purchasing the renewable energy certificate;
(3) the type of generator technology and fuel
type;
(4) the generating facility's
physical location, nameplate capacity in megawatts, location and ID number of
revenue meter and date of commencement of commercial generation;
(5) the public utility to which the
generating facility is interconnected;
(6) the control area operator for the
generating facility; and
(7) the
quantity in kilowatt-hours and the date of the renewable energy certificate
creation.
C. Renewable
energy certificates:
(1) shall be owned by the
generator of the renewable energy unless:
(a)
the renewable energy certificates are transferred to the purchaser of the
energy 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 unless retained by the generator through
specific agreement with the public utility purchaser of the energy;
or
(c) a contract for the purchase
of renewable energy is in effect prior to January 1, 2019, in which case the
purchaser of the energy owns the renewable energy certificates for the term of
such contract; and
(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;
(3) that are used once by a public utility to
satisfy the renewable portfolio standard and are retired shall not be further
used by the public utility; and
(4)
that are not used by a public utility to satisfy the renewable portfolio
standard may be carried forward for up to four years from the date of creation
and, if not used by that time, shall be retired by the public
utility.
D. Public
utilities 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 and has not been retired,
traded, sold or otherwise transferred to another party. Public utilities shall
maintain records sufficient to meet the demonstration requirement of this
subsection.
E. The acquisition,
sale or transfer, and retirement of any renewable energy certificates used to
meet renewable portfolio standards on or after January 1, 2008 shall be
registered with the WREGIS or its direct successor(s), except as provided in
Subsection F of
17.9.572.17 NMAC. Certificates
whose retirement has been registered by the public utility with WREGIS shall be
deemed to meet the requirements of Subsection D of
17.9.572.17 NMAC.
F. Renewable energy certificates representing
electricity delivered to the public utility and assigned to the public
utility's New Mexico customers and registered with a tracking system other than
WREGIS may be used to meet renewable portfolio standards so long as WREGIS
lacks the capability to import certificates from that other tracking
system.
