Lisa LaRocque has a long list of projects she’d like to see happen in Las Cruces. Those include a solar array to power the well pumps that provide drinking water to the southern New Mexico city and solar with battery storage to provide electricity to a senior center that doubles as a location for people to stay cool during hot summer temperatures.
LaRocque, who serves as the city’s sustainability officer, hopes that legislation that will be introduced in the upcoming legislative session to create a local solar access fund will enable her to check a few of those items off the wishlist.
State Rep. Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, and state Sen. Harold Pope Jr., D-Albuquerque, will sponsor the legislation and participated in a webinar Tuesday night to discuss their bill.
The local solar access fund, which would be created through a one-time $110 million appropriation, would help municipalities, tribes and counties pay for solar projects such as the ones LaRoque hopes to see accomplished in Las Cruces.
While connecting to distribution lines could be covered by the fund, the sponsors say that for the most part they envision the solar arrays or battery storage will be located directly adjacent to the building or infrastructure that they are intended to power.
So far, Szczepanski said she has not heard much feedback from utilities, but she anticipates that will change once the bill is officially introduced.
“I think particularly right now there’s a groundswell in our state to get things done.,” she said. “We have huge opportunities with federal infrastructure funding. And the real challenge of the session is how do we build and invest in things today, in projects and in infrastructure today, that are going to benefit us for generations.”
The bill prioritizes rural communities that may not necessarily have the tax base or revenue sources to pursue projects like solar arrays.
“It’s going to empower local communities to lead in creating a solar future for our state,” she said, adding that it will fill a big missing piece for the state.
It could also leverage federal funding by helping communities provide a local match that is required to access certain funding sources.
Szcezepanski said the local solar access fund will also help reduce the vulnerability that communities have to things like flooding and wildfires.
“With this fund, we’re going to be able to provide funding so that every community in New Mexico has the capacity to build a resilient center for their community,” she said. “So whether that be heating or cooling depending on what the situation is, whether that be an emergency shelter, having something that is resilient in the event that the grid goes down is really important and it’s an important part of addressing climate change in the years to come.”
Pope said people in New Mexico have been asking for something like the proposed local solar access fund.
“Right now we have the resources to do this,” he said.
The idea is that some of the budget surplus from oil and gas will be invested into the local solar access fund to build resiliency in New Mexico now before a downturn leads to tighter budgets.
The webinar also included recent survey results looking at New Mexico voters’ support of solar, including community solar. The survey was performed by Embold Research.
According to the survey results, about three quarters of New Mexicans want to see the state produce as much wind and solar energy as it can and nearly half of the voters who do not have rooftop solar would consider subscribing to receive solar energy from a community solar array.
