$156M Solar for All grant aims to increase energy accessibility in NM

Sep. 16—A cloudy and rainy Monday didn't dampen the spirits of the local, state and federal officials that gathered on Albuquerque's West Side to celebrate the $156 million New Mexico is getting for solar energy investments.

Specifically, the money aims to make solar energy more accessible for low-income and rural communities.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency earlier this year announced New Mexico would get $156 million through the federal Solar for All program as one of 49 states, six tribes and five nonprofits to get money from a $7 billion pot.

Stacy Dwyer, deputy regional administrator for the EPA, said during the event held at Albuquerque Fire Rescue Training Academy that her agency is committed to New Mexico. The state has seen "its share of climate change impacts," she said, from long-lasting droughts to massive wildfires — like the recent South Fork and Salt Fires and subsequent flooding in Ruidoso.

"And these impacts also really hit low-income communities of color, who continue to shoulder a disproportionate burden of climate change," she said. "And they also lack the resources needed to overcome emergencies and disruptions."

Dwyer said low-income households will save, on average, $400 a year in energy costs through the Solar for All program.

Melanie Kenderdine is the secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, the agency responsible for doling out the dollars. She referenced the state's solar market development tax credit, which offers money to New Mexico residents to offset solar installation costs. Kenderdine said while "we're proud to offer these types of savings to our residents," there's also a gap in tax credit programs.

"The benefits from the tax credit program have gone largely to people who are able to pay the upfront cost of solar installation and then wait to get a tax credit that can take up to a year," she said.

Since New Mexico is a relatively poor state, she said, it's huge that the Solar for All program can increase access to solar energy among "the state's most energy-burdened populations."

The Solar for All program is expected to benefit 21,750 low-income households in New Mexico, Kenderdine said, and, over a 20-year period, New Mexicans will save more than $311 million in energy costs.

U.S. Reps. Melanie Stansbury and Teresa Leger Fernández, also in attendance at the event, applauded the inclusion of vulnerable communities.

"The benefit of the new energy possibilities have not reached those that need it most, and that's what's so exciting about this," Leger Fernández said.

Kenderdine said New Mexico is the perfect place for solar energy with its 300-plus days of sunshine a year, though she also noted that the cloudy Monday sky highlighted how important battery storage is. She also said Solar for All will add 77 megawatts of solar energy capacity to New Mexico's power grid and generate 8.4 megawatt-hours of stored energy.

Some of the Solar for All grant money is also expected to go toward utility system upgrades to help bring community solar online.

Community solar enables solar energy gardens to send electricity via the power grid to people that are signed up for the program. Participants also get credits on their utility bills for using solar energy.

Jim DesJardins, executive director of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico, highlighted the increased accessibility that community solar will bring, since the energy can go to renters and people living in multi-family units who tend to face more barriers to setting up rooftop solar.

New Mexico needs to take advantage of "the great resource that we have" in order to undergo its clean energy transition, he said.

"We're not going to go back to a fossil fuel-based industry," DesJardins said.