Solar Renewable Energy Credits (REC)
Last Updated on Saturday, 25 April 2009 19:02
Written by Administrator
Sunday, 29 March 2009 08:11
When you put up a solar Photovoltaic (PV) system and connect it to the grid, PNM would like to give you a check each month. PNM will pay you $0.13 per kilowatt hour (Kwh) for every Kwh you produce and they will sign a contract with you for 12 years.
So what does that mean?
Let’s say you install (14) 215-watt panels (which is a 3kW system) at your home and connect it to the grid. In Santa Fe, this will produce around 400 Kwh of energy per month. This is more energy than I use in an 1850 square foot home. This amount of energy created would equate to $52.00 of REC from PNM. If you sized your system properly for a Net Metering of zero*, meaning your meter spun forward as much as is spun backwards. Then PNM would send you a check for $52.00.
This is for systems up to 10kW. Larger systems get $0.15 per Kwh produced.
PNM is doing this because they are mandated to produce 20% of their power from Renewable Energy sources by 2020. So the bean counters figured out how much it would cost to build their own massive arrays of solar and wind and they figured it would be better to buy the REC from indendepent producers - like you!
*Please see article on Net Metering for more information.
-Taylor Selby
