Moscone Model. San Francisco’s 2001 bond issue was the model for New Mexico’s effort. (Photo courtesy of The Vote Solar Initiative, San Francisco)

Solar power’s future recently brightened in New Mexico with passage of a bill for publicly backed solar projects.

The state legislature by unanimous vote on Mar. 16 passed House Bill 32, allowing $20 million in bonds for solar and energy efficient retrofits to state-owned buildings and schools. The measure is expected to save $46 million in utility costs over the 20-year life of the bonds, while generating $18 million in net revenue for new project investment, says Craig O’Hare, special assistant for renewable energy with New Mexico’s Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Dept., the program’s administrator. The bill is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Bill Richardson (D), former Dept. of Energy secretary, by April 8.

New Mexico modeled its initiative on a $100-million city bond measure in San Francisco in 2001 that pays for solar panels, energy efficiency and wind turbines at public facilities through utility savings. Its first completed project was an $8.1-million, 675-kW photovoltaic system installed on the roof of the Moscone Convention Center in 2003, which will save about $753,784 annually in energy costs, says the Solar Vote Initiative, a San Francisco-based advocacy group.

New Mexico, the first state adopting the innovative project finance model, will gear most of its efforts toward 50 million sq ft of K-12 retrofits. The bill will be weighted more toward building efficiency upgrades such as lighting enhancements and HVAC improvements in order to achieve the utility savings needed, with solar power only playing a supporting role, O’Hare says. "Energy efficiency upgrades have a much shorter payback period of four to five years as opposed to solar, which can take much longer," he explains. Nonetheless, about $3.6 million, or 20% of the expected total savings, will go toward solar photovoltaic power and thermal hot water applications.

"The state has almost nothing in photovoltaic power," complains Ben Luce, chairman of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy, an Albuquerque-based advocacy group. HB 32 "will only result in about 200 kW of solar energy," he says.

Critics say subsidies or user incentives generally are needed to make solar power competitive because the $8-per-installed-kW cost is too high and the sunlight-to-electricity conversion rate only is about 15%, requiring plenty of space.

Industry advocates claim costs are declining and state support is growing. "The potential U.S. market for grid-connected solar rooftop PV could reach 2,000 MW per year by 2010, assuming that the solar industry can achieve a breakthrough price of $2 to $2.50 per installed kW," says David Wooley, executive vice president of the Energy Foundation, San Francisco. "This technology, with a modest amount of support, could make a breakthrough to cost effectiveness."