New Mexico
New Mexico’s community solar program expands as projects deliver bill credits
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Lawmakers created a special program in 2021 to help more New Mexicans voluntarily support solar projects—without needing panels on their homes or apartments. Now, nearly five years later, dozens of those community solar farms are finally coming online.
As of September, the first few solar farms connected to the New Mexico Community Solar Act have been going live, with almost 50 new community solar farms going up next year for El Paso Electric, Xcel Energy, and PNM customers.
Alaric Babej, Director of Customer Energy Solutions for PNM, said, “We are currently putting on the first bill credits on subscriber bills right now, so there are subscribers to community solar that are already receiving credits from PNM. So it’s a really exciting time to be in the industry.”
He said PNM is the first utility in the state to get community solar farms interconnected under the new program. “Community Solar is unique because you don’t have to actually put panels on your house. You’re able to get the benefits of participating in the solar energy industry without directly installing it,” Babej said. “And so the goal of the program is to open up those benefits to customers that couldn’t install traditional solar. So, for example, folks that live in apartment buildings, or maybe they’re renters.”
To take part, customers must contact a subscription management company. The state has vetted and approved five such companies. Ratepayers enroll and are set up with a subscription fee tailored to their usage patterns, based on previous yearly electricity use.
Credits appear on the utility bill before the subscriber pays their subscription fee. For income-qualified users, the credit can be anywhere from 20–30 percent of the subscription fee.
For example, if an income-qualified family typically pays $100 on their monthly electricity bill and then pays a $50 subscription fee, the credit could be around $70 (depending on the subscription management company). That would result in a net, monthly savings of $20.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission said that this discount will always result in net savings, and income-qualified subscribers may save up to three times more than non-income-qualified participants.
Income-qualified subscribers must make at or below 80% of the area’s median income.
Christian Casillas, Executive Director of the Coalition of Sustainable Communities New Mexico, said the state has tasked the coalition with outreach and education. The group is hosting in-person and online seminars about the program and how to enroll.
“Just as an example, if you’re living in Bernalillo County and you’re a household of two people, your income would need to be below $58,000 a year,” Casillas explained. “And if you qualify for that, then you should expect to see something like 15% to 28% savings in your electricity costs over the course of the year. And if you are not an income-qualified household, you should expect to see something like six to 7% savings over the course of the year.”
Casillas said the state hopes this first phase of solar farms will reach as many as 35,000 households—or roughly 10 percent of the state’s low-income population who would qualify.
The program is open to more than income-qualified residents. Homeowners, businesses, schools, churches, and nonprofits can also participate.
Participants don’t have to live near the solar farm they are subscribed to.
Troy McGee, founder of WattsUp New Mexico, a company helping connect customers to the state-endorsed program, said there are multiple reasons beyond savings to get involved. He noted that participating helps the state transition to renewable energy, and that developers have pledged 50% of farm capacity (and are required by statute to reserve at least 30%) for income-qualified ratepayers. “It’s the easiest way to save on electricity, you’re not switching providers. It’s an easy way to help other income-qualified homes. And it makes a ton of local jobs,” said McGee.
He added that there’s no risk of paying more in fees, subscriptions can be adjusted as household energy needs change, and there’s no cancellation fee.
McGee said building trust is essential in the communities he serves.
“There’s been a lot of scammy sales in the solar industry, so there’s a lack of trust, but I think when people know that we’re local and they talk with us, they quickly begin to trust us,” he said.
So far, the Public Regulation Commission said three community solar farms are live, 10 are expected to be ready by the end of the year, and approximately 47 more are anticipated by the end of 2026.
According to the Coalition, each five-megawatt farm creates a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the course of the year that would be equivalent to removing about 1000 gasoline-powered vehicles.
Cities getting one or more community solar farms interconnected with PNM:
- Alamogordo – 2
- Albuquerque – 1
- Belen – 2
- Clayton – 1
- Deming – 6
- Las Vegas – 1
- Lordsburg – 3
- Los Lunas – 4
- Rio Communities – 1
- Rio Rancho – 1
- Santa Fe – 1
- Silver City – 2
- Tularosa – 5
Cities getting one or more community solar farms interconnected with El Paso Electric:
- Chaparral – 1
- Las Cruces – 3
- Salem – 1
- Vado – 1
Cities getting one or more community solar farms interconnected with Southwestern Public Service Company:
- Carlsbad – 1
- Clovis – 4
- Hobbs – 1
- Portales – 2
- Roswell – 3
SANTA FE, N.M. – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham asked Attorney General Raúl Torrez to investigate whether any Drug Enforcement Administration agents broke state law when pills reached New Mexico streets.
In a statement, Lujan Grisham said, “make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities.”
The governor also shared a timeline from 2022 to 2025 that she said shows when she asked federal officials for help with New Mexico’s fentanyl crisis and violent crime.
Lujan Grisham said the first request came on June 21, 2022, when she wrote to then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray and asked for 50 additional federal agents.
She said she wrote to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland on Sept. 15, 2022, asking for more agents, resources and support for New Mexico law enforcement.
Lujan Grisham said she wrote Garland a second time on Aug. 8, 2023, with the same request.
What came next?
About a month later, Lujan Grisham said she sent Garland a third letter and said New Mexico needed more federal law enforcement to curb violent crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking.
She said her most recent request came on Sept. 4, 2025, when she wrote to former Attorney General Pam Bondi and again asked for additional agents and resources.
The governor’s statement says those requests span several years as she pressed the federal government for more help in New Mexico.
Full statement from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham:
“I am appalled by reporting this week by the Associated Press and Albuquerque Journal that revealed federal authorities made a deliberate decision to let hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills flood into New Mexico communities, despite knowing that fentanyl is so lethal the White House has designated it a weapon of mass destruction.
Let me say that again: the Drug Enforcement Administration watched as 74,000 fentanyl pills were delivered to a mobile home park in Albuquerque, and they did nothing. And that’s just one transaction. Shockingly, the federal government stood by while monitoring shipments, tallying exact pill counts, and watching as these deadly drugs hit the streets.
There are no words to describe how reckless and dangerous these decisions were. Make no mistake: the DEA knew people would die if these pills made it into New Mexico communities, and the agency let it happen anyway. The result: hundreds of New Mexican parents burying their kids. Hundreds of New Mexican kids growing up without stable parents. All while the federal government stood by.
If the justification for letting these pills flood our communities was that it would somehow make New Mexico safer down the road through bigger eventual busts, the results say otherwise. New Mexico now leads the nation in the increase in overdose deaths for the second straight year, despite deaths dropping nationwide.
Today, I wrote to Attorney General Raúl Torrez and asked him to investigate whether any federal agents broke state law when they allowed lethal drugs to remain on our streets, and to prosecute anyone responsible — regardless of whether they are a federal agent or not.
I have spent years working across two administrations — writing letters, traveling to Washington, meeting directly with President Joe Biden and his cabinet, pushing for accountability, asking for more federal agents to be deployed to New Mexico to help fight this crisis.
- On June 21, 2022, I wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray, imploring the FBI to assign no less than 50 additional agents to New Mexico to stem escalating drug trafficking and violent crime.
- On September 15, 2022, I wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland, requesting that the Department of Justice provide additional federal agents, resources and support to New Mexico law enforcement. We asked the department to match the level of investigative, analytical, and technical resources the FBI had deployed in its Buffalo, NY surge.
- On August 8, 2023, I wrote again to Attorney General Garland, renewing my request that the DOJ expeditiously assign more federal agents to New Mexico.
- On September 7, 2023, I wrote to Attorney General Garland for a third time, reiterating my request once more federal law enforcement support to curb violent crime, drug and human trafficking.
- On September 4, 2025, I wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi, once again requesting additional agents and resources.
I have declared the surge of drugs like fentanyl to be a public health emergency. I have deployed the National Guard to both Albuquerque and Española. While my administration was doing everything we could to stem the tide of fentanyl coming into our state, the federal government deliberately allowed it to flood in.
New Mexican lives are not the federal government’s cost of doing business.
I plan to hold the federal government accountable for this disaster and will explore every possible avenue of action against the federal government to right these wrongs.”
The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
CLINES CORNERS, N.M. – The Canyon Venado Fire has grown to 852 acres east of Clines Corners and crews say wind farms in the area are threatened.
The fire is burning just east of Clines Corners, south of Interstate 40.
It forced the closure of eastbound Interstate 40 at Clines Corners on Tuesday night. I-40 reopened Tuesday night. I-40 is back open but smoke still affects visibility.
“We’re on the side of I-40 so drivers have to be pretty cautious. As far as our establishment itself we’re pretty isolated by the freeway itself as a nice fire break,” said Lincoln Tarantino, Clines Corner general manager.
The fire has burned around 852 acres, up from just 20 at this time Monday.
Crews say the fire is not contained and wind farms in the area are threatened.
New Mexico
Feds allowed millions of fentanyl pills to ‘walk’ on New Mexico streets: DEA Whistleblower
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