Heinrich unveils solar toolkit to local leaders
Sen. Martin Heinrich made a return to Albuquerque on Thursday to talk solar power at the Central New Mexico Community College Workforce Training Center.
City leaders such as Mayor Tim Keller and City Councilor Pat Davis, along with other energy representatives joined Heinrich as he unveiled what he is calling his Solar Toolkit or strategies to continue an emphasis on increasing New Mexico's solar power.
"Many of our communities are leading the nation in solar deployment because they are setting and achieving attainable goals: from realizing 25 percent of energy consumption coming from solar by 2025 to going carbon neutral," Heinrich wrote in a letter as he unveiled his plan. "Best of all, the solar industry now employs almost 2,500 New Mexicans and added 1,000 jobs in 2016 alone."
In 2017, however, New Mexico lost solar jobs — over 400 — for the first time since The Solar Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit that tracks the state of the solar industry across the country, began tracking solar jobs in 2010. That trend is projected to continue, according to previous Business First reporting.
Despite the setback in solar jobs, Heinrich's report linked the otherwise strong growth in the industry over the past decade to higher education. CNM and the University of New Mexico partnered up to offer a sustainable building technology certificate at their schools. The program "focuses on producing buildings and other facilities that reduce environmental impacts and use resources more efficiently," according to CNM's certificate description. Heinrich's toolkit also shared success stories from local government, tribes, schools, small businesses in rural areas and power providers.
Heinrich highlighted a number of solar power projects through the state including Las Cruces investing $5 million over six years in solar projects at nine different facilities.
In 2016, Albuquerque City Council approved a goal to power city-owned buildings and facilities with 25 percent solar energy by 2025. Putting solar panels on city-owned buildings would cost about $46 million and lead to a $3.6 million reduction in annual energy costs, according to the city.
"I am proud to have led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to pass an energy agreement that included a five-year extension of the Solar Investment Tax Credit, which fueled some of this growth," Heinrich said in a statement. "But the hard work from citizens, lawmakers, and businesses is what truly transformed how we power New Mexico."
