Three-penny dispute stalls city's solar deal

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - It was a million-dollar investment, and more than a year after the solar panel array at the Albuquerque Fire Academy went online the city said it is seeing a nice return.

The situation isn't as simple, however, with a similar project at the municipal landfill.

“We’ve produced approximately 450,000 kilowatt hours of energy,” Municipal Development Director Michael Riordan said of the project at the fire academy.  "That’s equivalent to about $45,000 of city taxpayer funding that we’ve saved

In addition to the savings the city has also made money off the project because PNM pays customers for using renewable energy.

“We do pay a price per kilowatt hour, and that helps us meet our renewable energy standard with the state,” said PNM spokesperson Susan Sponar.

The city was hoping to replicate the success it has had at the AFD Academy solar array at the Cerro Colorado Landfill array.

It finished the solar array there last November, but that project has hit a snag.

“There are differences of opinion of what that energy is worth right now,” Riordan said.

According to Riordan PNM is offering the city 6 cents a kilowatt hour at the Cerro Colorado Landfill array which is 3 cents less than what the utility is paying for the similar system at the fire academy.

“We’re going through the due diligence for the taxpayer and saying, 'Why is this one different? Why shouldn’t we be receiving the 9 cents a kilowatt hours?'" Riordan said.  "We have not heard a response from PNM yet."

Sponar told News 13 she cannot comment on specific customer accounts because of privacy issues.

However, she did say it is common for the utility to decrease the price it pays for renewable energy once it reaches a certain amount of customers who subscribe.

“Our goal with any customer, though, is going to be to be fair," Sponar said.  "If the city has concerns we need to talk with them and hopefully we can resolve those concerns."

In the meantime the city is not missing out on the energy at the landfill.  The solar panels are generating power for the property right now.

However the city is missing out on $36,000 it was expecting from PNM.

“Deferred funding a little bit," Riordan said.  "We don’t have the $36,000 right now to be going out and doing other projects which we would do."

Even though the city and PNM have not yet come to an agreement, Riordan told News 13 he expects that once they do the city will receive the credits retroactively.