NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-1 Short title
62-16B-1. Short title
Sections 1 through 9 [8] [62-16B-1 to 62-16B-8 NMSA 1978] of this act may be cited as the "Community Solar Act."
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 1.
Community Solar
NMSA 1978 ch. 62, art. 16B
in effectNMSA 1978, § 62-16B-2 Definitions
62-16B-2. Definitions
As used in the Community Solar Act:
A. "commission" means the public regulation commission;
B. "community solar bill credit" means the credit value of the electricity generated by a community solar facility and allocated to a subscriber to offset the subscriber's electricity bill on the qualifying utility's monthly billing cycle as required by the Community Solar Act;
C. "community solar bill credit rate" means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate determined by the commission that is used to calculate a subscriber's community solar bill credit;
D. "community solar facility" means a facility that generates electricity by means of a solar photovoltaic device, and subscribers to the facility receive a bill credit for the electricity generated in proportion to the subscriber's share of the facility's kilowatt-hour output;
E. "community solar program" or "program" means the program created through the adoption of rules by the commission that allows for the development of community solar facilities and provides customers of a qualifying utility with the option of accessing solar energy produced by a community solar facility in accordance with the Community Solar Act;
F. "Indian nation, tribe or pueblo" means a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partially in New Mexico;
G. "low-income customer" means a residential customer of a qualifying utility with an annual household income at or below eighty percent of area median income, as published by the United States department of housing and urban development, or that is enrolled in a low-income program facilitated by the state or a low-income energy program led by the qualifying utility or as determined by the commission;
H. "low-income service organization" means an organization that provides services, assistance or housing to low-income customers and may include a local or central tribal government, a chapter house or a tribally designated housing entity;
I. "nameplate capacity" means the maximum rated output of electric power production equipment that is commonly indicated on a nameplate physically attached to the generator and expressed in megawatts alternating current;
J. "native community solar project" means a community solar facility that is sited in New Mexico on the land of an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo and that is owned or operated by a subscriber organization that is an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo or a tribal entity or in partnership with a third-party entity;
K. "qualifying utility" means an investor-owned electric public utility certified by the commission to provide retail electric service in New Mexico pursuant to the Public Utility Act [Chapter 62, Articles 1 to 6 and 8 to 13 NMSA 1978] or a rural electric distribution cooperative that has opted in to the community solar program;
L. "subscriber" means a retail customer of a qualifying utility that owns a subscription to a community solar facility and that is by rate class a residential retail customer or a small commercial retail customer or, regardless of rate class, is a nonprofit organization, a religious organization, an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo or tribal entity, a municipality or a county in the state, a charter, private or public school as defined in Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978, a community college as defined in Section 21-13-2 NMSA 1978 or a public housing authority;
M. "subscriber organization" means an entity that owns or operates a community solar facility and may include a qualifying utility, a municipality, a county, a for-profit or nonprofit entity or organization, an Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo, a local tribal governance structure or other tribal entity authorized to transact business in New Mexico;
N. "subscription" means a contract for a community solar subscription entered into between a subscriber and a subscriber organization for a share of the nameplate capacity from a community solar facility;
O. "total aggregate retail rate" means the total amount of a qualifying utility's demand, energy and other charges converted to a kilowatt-hour rate, including fuel and power cost adjustments, the value of renewable energy attributes and other charges of a qualifying utility's effective rate schedule applicable to a given customer rate class, but does not include charges described on a qualifying utility's rate schedule as minimum monthly charges, including customer or service availability charges, energy efficiency program riders or other charges not related to a qualifying utility's power production, transmission or distribution functions, as approved by the commission, franchise fees and tax charges on utility bills;
P. "tribal entity" means an enterprise, a nonprofit entity or organization or a political subdivision formed under the inherent sovereignty of an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo; and
Q. "unsubscribed electricity" means electricity, measured in kilowatt-hours, generated by a community solar facility that is not allocated to a subscriber.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 2.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-3 Community solar facility requirements
62-16B-3. Community solar facility requirements
A. A community solar facility shall:
(1) have a nameplate capacity rating of five megawatts alternating current or less;
(2) be located in the service territory of the qualifying utility and be interconnected to the electric distribution system of that qualifying utility;
(3) have at least ten subscribers;
(4) have the option to be co-located with other energy resources, but shall not be co-located with other community solar facilities;
(5) not allow a single subscriber to be allocated more than forty percent of the generating capacity of the facility; and
(6) make at least forty percent of the total generating capacity of a community solar facility available in subscriptions of twenty-five kilowatts or less.
B. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a native community solar project; provided that a native community solar project shall be located in the service territory of a qualifying utility and be interconnected to the electric distribution system of that qualifying utility.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 3.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-4 Ownership of community solar facilities
62-16B-4. Ownership of community solar facilities
A. A community solar facility shall be owned or operated by a subscriber organization.
B. Third-party entities or subscriber organizations developing projects on the land of an Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo are subject to tribal jurisdiction.
C. Notwithstanding any provision of the Public Utility Act [Chapter 62, Articles 1 to 6 and 8 to 13 NMSA 1978] to the contrary, a person not otherwise a public utility shall not be deemed to be a public utility subject to the provisions of the Public Utility Act solely because the person owns, controls or operates all or any part of a community solar facility.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 4.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-5 Subscription requirements
62-16B-5. Subscription requirements
A. A subscription shall be:
(1) sized to supply no more than one hundred percent of the subscriber's average annual electricity consumption; and
(2) transferable and portable within the qualifying utility service territory.
B. The provisions of this section shall not apply to a native community solar project; provided that subscriptions to a native community solar project shall be transferable and portable within the qualifying utility service territory.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 5.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-6 Community solar program administration
62-16B-6. Community solar program administration
A. A qualifying utility shall:
(1) acquire the entire output of a community solar facility connected to its distribution system;
(2) apply community solar bill credits to subscriber bills within one billing cycle following the cycle during which the energy was generated by the community solar facility;
(3) provide community solar bill credits to a community solar facility's subscribers for not less than twenty-five years from the date the community solar facility is first interconnected;
(4) carry over any amount of a community solar bill credit that exceeds the subscriber's monthly bill and apply it to the subscriber's next monthly bill unless and until the subscriber cancels service with the qualifying utility; and
(5) on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide to the subscriber organization a report indicating the total value of community solar bill credits generated by the community solar facility in the prior month as well as the amount of the community solar bill credits applied to each subscriber.
B. A subscriber organization shall, on a monthly basis and in a standardized electronic format, provide to the qualifying utility a list indicating the kilowatt-hours of generation attributable to each subscriber. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect canceling subscribers and to add new subscribers.
C. If a community solar facility is not fully subscribed in a given month, the unsubscribed energy may be rolled forward on the community solar facility account for up to one year from its month of generation and allocated by the subscriber organization to subscribers at any time during that period. At the end of that period, any undistributed bill credit shall be removed, and the unsubscribed energy shall be purchased by the qualifying utility at its applicable avoided cost of energy rate as approved by the commission.
D. The environmental attributes, including renewable energy certificates, associated with a community solar facility shall be owned by the qualifying utility to whose electric distribution system the community solar facility is interconnected; provided that environmental attributes associated with a native community solar project shall be owned by the owner of the native community solar project.
E. Nothing in the Community Solar Act shall preclude an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo from using financial mechanisms other than subscription models, including virtual and aggregate net-metering, for native community solar projects.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 6.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-7 Public regulation commission; enforcement and rulemaking
62-16B-7. Public regulation commission; enforcement and rulemaking
A. The commission shall administer and enforce the rules and provisions of the Community Solar Act, including regulation of subscriber organizations in accordance with the Community Solar Act and oversight and review of the consumer protections established for the community solar program.
B. The commission shall adopt rules to establish a community solar program by no later than April 1, 2022. The rules shall:
(1) provide an initial statewide capacity program cap of two hundred megawatts alternating current proportionally allocated to investor-owned utilities until November 1, 2024. The statewide capacity program cap shall exclude native community solar projects and rural electric distribution cooperatives;
(2) establish an annual statewide capacity program cap to be in effect after November 1, 2024;
(3) require thirty percent of electricity produced from each community solar facility to be reserved for low-income customers and low-income service organizations. The commission shall issue guidelines to ensure the carve-out is achieved each year and develop a list of low-income service organizations and programs that may pre-qualify low-income customers;
(4) establish a process for the selection of community solar facility projects and allocation of the statewide capacity program cap, consistent with Section 13-1-21 NMSA 1978 regarding resident business, Native American resident business, resident veteran business and Native American resident veteran business preferences;
(5) require a qualifying utility to file the tariffs, agreement or forms necessary for implementation of the community solar program;
(6) establish reasonable, uniform, efficient and non-discriminatory standards, fees and processes for the interconnection of community solar facilities that are consistent with the commission's existing interconnection rules and interconnection manual that allows a qualifying utility to recover reasonable costs for administering the community solar program and interconnection costs for each community solar facility, such that a qualifying utility and its non-subscribing customers do not subsidize the costs attributable to the subscriber organization pursuant to this paragraph;
(7) provide consumer protections for subscribers, including a uniform disclosure form that identifies the information that shall be provided by a subscriber organization to a potential subscriber, in both English and Spanish, and when appropriate, native or indigenous languages, to ensure fair disclosure of future costs and benefits of subscriptions, key contract terms, security interests and other relevant but reasonable information pertaining to the subscription, as well as grievance and enforcement procedures;
(8) provide a community solar bill credit rate mechanism for subscribers derived from the qualifying utility's total aggregate retail rate on a per-customer-class basis, less the commission-approved distribution cost components, and identify all proposed rules, fees and charges; provided that non-subscribers shall not subsidize costs attributable to subscribers; and provided further that if the commission determines that it is in the public interest for non-subscribers to subsidize subscribers, non-subscribers shall not be charged more than three percent of the non-subscribers' aggregate retail rate on an annual basis to subsidize subscribers;
(9) reasonably allow for the creation, financing and accessibility of community solar facilities; and
(10) provide requirements for the siting and co-location of community solar facilities with other energy resources; provided that community solar facilities shall not be co-located with other community solar facilities.
C. The commission may through rule establish a reasonable application fee for subscriber organizations that is designed to cover a portion of the administrative costs of the commission in carrying out the community solar program. Application fees collected by the commission shall be remitted to the state treasurer no later than the day after their receipt.
D. The commission shall solicit input from relevant state agencies, public utilities, low-income stakeholders, disproportionately impacted communities, potential owners or operators of community solar facilities, Indian nations, tribes and pueblos and other interested parties in its rulemaking process.
E. By no later than November 1, 2024, the commission shall provide to the appropriate interim legislative committee a report on the status of the community solar program, including the development of community solar facilities, the participation of investor-owned utilities and rural electric distribution cooperatives, low-income participation, the adequacy of facility size, proposals for alternative rate structures and bill credit mechanisms, cross-subsidization issues, local developer project selection and expansion of the local solar industry, community solar facilities' effect on utility compliance with the renewable portfolio standard and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the commission's rules to implement the Community Solar Act and any recommended changes.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 7; 2022, ch. 6, § 4.
NMSA 1978, § 62-16B-8 Rural electric distribution cooperatives
62-16B-8. Rural electric distribution cooperatives
A rural electric distribution cooperative may opt in to the community solar program and provide interconnection and retail electric services to community solar developments on a per-project or system-wide basis within its service territory. The decision of a rural electric distribution cooperative to opt in to the community solar program shall be in the sole discretion of the cooperative's governing board.
Laws 2021, ch. 34, § 8.
Source: New Mexico Compilation Commission (nmonesource.com)URL: https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmsa-unanno/en/item/18565/index.doFetched: 10/20/2026