N.M. Admin. Code § 17.9.573.12

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 23, December 10, 2024

Section 17.9.573.12 - PROCESS FOR SELECTION OF COMMUNITY SOLAR FACILITIES

A. The commission will engage a third-party administrator to manage an unbiased and nondiscriminatory process for selection of proposed projects for building and operating community solar facilities. The commission will have no involvement in the process except to the extent that the administrator or any participant in the process may raise before the commission an issue that is not fully addressed in this rule and that the commission finds, in its discretion, that it should address.

B. Community solar facility projects shall be selected through a competitive solicitation process, with each bid meeting the following minimum requirements for eligibility:

(1) the bidder's legally binding site control;

(2) the bidder's commitment to meeting statutory subscriber minimums and not exceeding statutory maximums;

(3) the bidder's completion of a utility pre-application report or an equivalent report by the utility;

(4) the bidder's proof of access to collateral for the applicable project deposit; and

(5) the bidder's payment of a $1000 non-refundable bid application fee to the commission.

C. The program administrator shall limit consideration of bids by any one bidder to a maximum total for such bids of twenty percent of the statewide capacity cap allocated to the applicable utility.

D. No utility shall use any information provided in the interconnection application process or any information to which the utility has superior access to gain an unfair advantage for itself or any utility-affiliated bidder in the project selection process.

E. Eligible bids shall be scored using a set of non-price factors, with each factor weighted by the number of points awarded to the factor, as follows:

(1) each bid shall be awarded to one of the following categories pertaining to permitting status, each with its own point weighting:

(a) a bid for which all necessary non-ministerial permits and approvals have been secured, based upon a permitting plan signed by a licensed engineering firm, shall be categorized as fully permitted and shall be awarded 15 points:

(b) a bid for which applications are pending for all necessary non-ministerial permits, or for which one or more permits have been granted and applications are pending for the remainder, based upon permitting plan signed by a licensed engineering firm, shall be categorized as permits known and pending and shall be awarded 10 points;

(c) a bid for which the necessary non-ministerial permits have been identified based upon a permitting plan signed by a licensed engineering firm, but not all such permits have been applied for, shall be categorized as permits known and shall be awarded five points; or

(d) a bid for which the necessary non-ministerial permits have not been identified, based upon a permitting plan signed by a licensed engineering firm, shall be categorized as no permitting activity and shall be awarded no points.

(2) each bid shall be awarded points for having any, some, or all of the following attributes concerning the bidder's experience in developing and managing community solar projects, with the attributes being additive, not exclusive, for a range of zero to 10 potential points per bid:

(a) a bid made by a bidder composed of partners or principals having experience with subscriber recruiting and subscription management shall be awarded three points;

(b) a bid made by a bidder composed of partners or principals having experience building and operating facilities shall be awarded three points; and

(c) a bid made by a bidder composed of partners or principals having experience working directly with low-income communities shall be awarded four points.

(3) each bid shall be assigned to one of the following categories pertaining to financing status, each with its own point weighting:

(a) a bid for which financing has been secured, whether in the form of an executed commitment letter from the project financier(s) or in the form of written confirmation of executive-level approval for internal financing, shall be categorized as financing secured and shall be awarded 10 points;

(b) a bid for which financing has not been secured but for which a detailed and feasible financing plan has been prepared shall be categorized as financing planned and shall be awarded four points; or

(c) a bid for which financing has not been secured and for which no detailed and feasible financing plan has been prepared shall be categorized as financing unplanned and shall be awarded no points.

(4) each bid shall be awarded points for having one or both of the following attributes concerning the proposed project site's viability for interconnection, with the attributes being additive, not exclusive, for a range of zero to five potential points per bid:

(a) a bid for which the proposed project site's distance to the utility's nearest three-phase line is less than one mile, as demonstrated by the utility's pre-application report or convincing alternative evidence presented by the bidder, shall be awarded two points; and

(b) a bid for which the proposed project would interconnect to a line of voltage 12 kV or higher, as demonstrated by the utility's pre-application report, shall be awarded three points.

(5) each bid shall be awarded points for including any, some, or all the following commitments beyond what is required by the statute, with the commitments being additive, not exclusive, for a range of zero to 25 potential points per bid:

(a) a bid including a commitment to exceed the statutory thirty-percent minimum level of subscription of low-income subscribers shall be awarded two points for each additional five-percent commitment above the thirty-percent minimum, up to a maximum of eight points for a commitment to a fifty-percent low-income subscription level for the proposed project;

(b) a bid including a commitment to serve a specific percentage of direct-billed low-income customers shall be awarded two points for a ten-percent commitment and two additional points for each additional ten-percent commitment, up to a maximum of eight points for a commitment to a forty-percent subscription level of direct-billed, low-income subscribers for the proposed project;

(c) a bid including a commitment to refrain from imposing upon any potential low-income subscriber any up-front costs of subscribing, a commitment to refrain from imposing upon any potential low-income subscriber any early termination fee, and a commitment to refrain from requiring or ordering any credit check or credit report for any low-income subscriber, shall be awarded two points; and

(d) a bid including a commitment to supplement the community solar bill credit for any low-income subscriber, for a minimum period of five years, by including, in addition to the credit as calculated and provided by the utility, a credit from the subscriber organization to the subscriber in the amount of an additional twenty to thirty percent of the utility solar bill credit, shall be awarded four points for a commitment of twenty percent up to and including twenty-two percent, five points for a commitment above twenty-two percent up to and including twenty-five percent, six points for a commitment above twenty-five percent up to and including twenty-seven percent, or seven points for a commitment above twenty-seven percent up to and including thirty percent.

(6) each bid shall be awarded points for having any, some, or all of the following attributes concerning benefits to local communities, to disproportionately impacted communities, or to disadvantaged groups, with the attributes being additive, not exclusive, for a range of zero to 20 potential points per bid:

(a) a bid including a commitment to offer workforce training or educational opportunities to disproportionately impacted communities shall be awarded six points;

(b) a bid including a commitment to contract for materials, supplies, or services only with businesses owned or operated locally or owned or operated by members of racial minorities, women, veterans, or Native Americans, shall be awarded six points;

(c) a bid including a commitment to ownership of the proposed facility by members of the local community shall be awarded two points; and

(d) a bid including evidence of and a description of an existing and continuing partnership with a tribe, pueblo, local community, or non-profit community organization shall be awarded six points.

(7) each bid shall be awarded points for having any, some, or all of the following attributes concerning the proposed project site, with the attributes being additive, not exclusive, for a range of zero to five potential points per bid:

(a) a bid for a project to be sited on a brownfield, built environment, or rooftop shall be awarded two points;

(b) a bid for a project to be sited on municipal, county, or state land shall be awarded one point; and

(c) a bid for a project that has received a favorable analysis from the department of cultural affairs or a qualified independent expert shall be awarded two points.

(8) each bid shall be categorized according to the provisions of Section 13-1-21 NMSA 1978, and shall be awarded points accordingly.

(9) The program administrator may award an additional five points to any bid that, as determined by the administrator in its discretion, includes an innovative commitment or provision beneficial to the local community, to potential subscribers, or to the program overall.

F. The program administrator shall select projects based upon these qualifications and selection criteria within each qualifying utility's territory until the allocated capacity cap for each utility has been reached.

G. For each bid selected to proceed further by the program administrator, the bidder shall pay to the commission an application fee in the amount of $2500 for each megawatt of nameplate capacity the proposed facility is expected to have.

H. The program administrator shall identify sets of proposed projects to comprise utility-specific wait lists of proposed projects that would be eligible and able to participate in the program should a project or multiple projects be withdrawn after being selected to go forward. The wait lists shall be comprised of projects that received total scores immediately below the scores of the projects that were selected. The program administrator shall maintain a wait list for each qualifying utility, including projects with combined capacities for each utility equal to the utility's allocated capacity cap. Each bidder proposing a wait-listed project shall pay the $2500/MW application fee within 30 days of moving from the wait list into the queue of selected projects.

I. A utility must consider interconnection applications for community solar projects that have been selected by the administrator and any projects from the wait list that replace any selected projects and need not consider interconnection applications for community solar projects that have not been selected or have not replaced selected projects. Among the group of interconnection applications for community solar projects that have been selected by the administrator or have replaced selected projects, a utility must prioritize consideration of applications in the order of ranking by points awarded to each project in the selection process. A utility shall not apply any preference for interconnection applications for community solar projects as opposed to other types of interconnection applications, and vice-versa, regarding prioritization in the interconnection queue.

N.M. Admin. Code § 17.9.573.12

Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXIII, Issue 13, July 12, 2022, eff. 7/12/2022