By Hannah Grover
Rural electric cooperatives say they should not be subject to the same interconnection rules as the investor-owned utilities. Interconnection is an important topic in part because it deals with how renewable energy projects such as solar arrays connect to the grid.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Thursday unanimously approved opening a docket that could result in separate rules for rural electric cooperatives.
This could impact utilities such as Central New Mexico Electric Cooperative — which has a service territory including sections of 11 counties including parts of the East Mountains near Albuquerque — and Jemez Mountains Electric Cooperative, which has a service territory that includes areas in Sandoval, Santa Fe, McKinley, Rio Arriba and San Juan counties.
“The summary landing place for me is that the co-ops are different, especially on this particular item,” Commission Chairman Pat O’Connell said. “The incentives for distribution system investment are different. There’s a wide range of ability within the co-op world of each co-op to handle the technical issues that interconnection produces. So broadly I agree that it’s good to have a different rule on interconnection for co-ops than we have for the (investor-owned utilities).”
The PRC previously passed an interconnection rule in 2023, but the rural electric cooperatives have since asked for variances from requirements in the rule. Then, last fall, the rural electric cooperatives filed a petition asking for separate interconnection rules.
“I appreciate the co-ops efforts here to create a rule that they can comply with and that will move this issue forward,” Commissioner Gabriel Aguilera said.
The PRC could in the future draft a separate rule that could apply to rural electric cooperatives.
“This would take that petition, start a rulemaking in a new docket…and would ask staff to respond,” General Counsel Russell Fisk said about the order the PRC approved Thursday.
He said staff and anyone else who wants to respond will have until Feb. 24 to do so.
“We’re not in the formal [rulemaking] process yet,” Fisk said.
Thursday’s action does not mean the rural electric cooperatives will necessarily receive the separate rule that they requested.
“This is a launching the ship exercise, it’s not the ship,” O’Connell said about Thursday’s action.