Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
Unless otherwise specified, as used in this rule:
A.
Definitions beginning with "A":
"average annual levelized cost" means a calculation to produce the
present value of the total cost of building and operating a new resource over
an assumed lifetime, assuming equal unit costs each year over the life of the
resource. Average annual levelized cost is calculated by dividing the present
value of the assumed lifetime total cost of a new resource by the present value
of the assumed lifetime generation production of that new resource. The
equation for calculating average annual levelized cost is as follows:
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where, It equals
investment expenditures in year t (including financing) in
nominal dollars; Mt equals operations
and maintenance expenditures in year t in nominal dollars,
including but not limited to return, depreciation, property taxes, and income
taxes, net of tax credits that are passed on to customers;
Ft equals fuel expenditures and
variable operations and maintenance in year t in nominal
dollars; Et equals electricity
generated in year t including any degradation;
r equals a discount rate equal to the utility's after-tax
weighted average cost of capital as authorized in the utility's most recent
rate case; and n equals the assumed lifetime of the new
resource. Fuel expenditures would not be applicable for determining the
levelized cost of renewable resources but may be applicable for determining the
levelized cost of proposed zero-carbon resources.
B.
Definitions beginning with "B":
[RESERVED]
C.
Definitions beginning with "C": [RESERVED]
D.
Definitions beginning with "D":
[RESERVED]
E..
Definitions beginning with "E": "emissions" means all emissions
regulated by state or federal authorities, including but not limited to: all
criteria pollutants and hazardous air pollutants, methane, mercury, and carbon
dioxide.
F.
Definitions
beginning with "F": "financial incentive" means money or additional
earnings that a public utility is authorized to collect from ratepayers by the
commission or capital investment opportunities to encourage certain behaviors
or actions that would not otherwise have occurred in order to further the
outcomes described in Section
62-16-4 NMSA 1978. The financial
incentive, or monetary benefit, motivates certain behaviors or
actions.
G.
Definitions
beginning with "G": "greenhouse gas emissions" means emissions of gases
including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, fluorinated gases, or other
gases that trap heat in the atmosphere.
H.
Definitions beginning with "H":
[RESERVED]
I.
Definitions beginning with "I": "IRP" means integrated resource
plan.
J.
Definitions
beginning with "J": [RESERVED]
K.
Definitions beginning with "K":
[RESERVED]
L.
Definitions beginning with "L": [RESERVED]
M.
Definitions beginning with "M":
[RESERVED]
N.
Definitions beginning with "N": [RESERVED]
O.
Definitions beginning with "O":
[RESERVED]
P.
Definitions beginning with "P":
(1)
"plan year" means the
calendar year for which approval is sought;
(2)
"plan year total retail energy
sales" means retail energy sales in kilowatt-hours projected for the
plan year adjusted for projected energy efficiency reductions based on approved
energy efficiency and load management programs in effect at the time of the
filing, less energy sales to voluntary program participants under Section
62-16-7 NMSA 1978;
(3)
"political subdivision of the
state" means a division of the state made by proper authorities thereof,
acting within their constitutional powers, for purpose of carrying out a
portion of those functions of the state which, by long usage and inherent
necessities of government, have always been regarded as public;
(4)
"procure or procurement"
means a competitive process conducted by an investor-owned electric utility for
soliciting and evaluating purchased power, facility self-build, or facility
build-transfer options as proposals for any new, additional, or amended
renewable energy resource, including but not limited to, instructions to
bidders, bid specifications, conditions, forms, or other requirements included
in a request for proposals, and all methods, practices, and assumptions used by
an investor-owned electric utility to model or evaluate such proposals or to
negotiate with bidders, in order to generate or purchase any renewable energy
resource or to commit to generate or purchase any renewable energy resource,
but does not include agreements to purchase energy or capacity from a
qualifying facility pursuant to 17.9.570 NMAC;
(5)
"public utility" means
investor-owned electric utility certified by the commission to provide retail
electric service in New Mexico pursuant to the Public Utility Act and does not
include rural electric cooperatives or municipalities.
Q.
Definitions beginning with "Q.":
[RESERVED]
R.
Definitions beginning with "R":
(1)
"reasonable cost threshold"
(RCT) means an average annual levelized cost of $60.00 per megawatt-hour
at the point of interconnection of the renewable energy resource with the
transmission systems, adjusted for inflation after 2020. The reasonable cost
threshold is a customer protection mechanism that limits the customer bill
impact resulting from annual Renewable Energy Act plans;
(2)
"renewable energy" means
electric energy generated by use of renewable energy resources and delivered to
a public utility;
(3)
"renewable energy certificate" (REC) means a certificate or other
record, in a format approved by the commission, that represents all the
environmental attributes from one megawatt-hour of electricity generated from
renewable energy delivered to a public utility and assigned to its New Mexico
customers;
(4)
"renewable
energy resource" means the following energy resources with or without
energy storage:
(a) solar, wind, and
geothermal;
(b) hydropower
facilities brought in service on or after July 1, 2007;
(c) biomass resources, limited to agriculture
of animal waste, small diameter timber not to exceed eight inches, salt cedar,
and other phreatophyte or woody vegetation removed from river basins or
watersheds in New Mexico, provided that these resources are from facilities
certified by the energy, minerals and natural resources department to:
(i) be of appropriate scale to have
sustainable feedstock in the near vicinity;
(ii) have zero life cycle carbon emissions;
and
(iii) meet scientifically
determined restoration, sustainability and soil nutrient principles;
(d) fuel cells that do not use
fossil fuels to create electricity; and
(e) landfill gas and anaerobically digested
waste biogas.
(5)
"renewable portfolio standard" (RPS) means the minimum percentage
of retail sales of electricity by a public utility to electric consumers in New
Mexico that is required by the Renewable Energy Act to be from renewable
energy;
(6)
"renewable
purchased power agreement" means an agreement that binds an entity
generating power from renewable energy resources to provide power at a
specified price, for a specified term, and binds the purchaser to that
price.
S.
Definitions beginning with "S": [RESERVED]
T.
Definitions beginning with "T":
[RESERVED]
U.
Definitions beginning with "U": [RESERVED]
V.
Definitions beginning with "V":
[RESERVED]
W.
Definitions beginning with "W": "WREGIS" means the western
renewable energy generation information system.
X.
Definitions beginning with "X":
[RESERVED]
Y.
Definitions beginning with "Y": [RESERVED]
Z.
Definitions beginning with
"Z":
(1)
"zero carbon
resource" means an electricity generation resource that emits no carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere, or that reduces methane emitted into the
atmosphere in an amount equal to no less than one-tenth of the tons of carbon
dioxide emitted into the atmosphere, as a result of electricity
production;
(2)
"zero carbon
resource standard" means providing New Mexico public utility customers
with electricity generated from one hundred percent zero carbon
resources.
