Sun finally shines on city solar effort

BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) - Belen's city government banked on solar power as the wave of the future installing three solar-power dishes that then sat idle for months as a PNM program caught up to the technology.

The solar power was expected to power Belen City Hall with the city even selling excess energy back to PNM. The state gave the city a $100,000 grant for the project.

"It's a solar-thermal electric system, it's the first of its kind in all of North America to be used in a commercial setting," Planning and Zoning Director Andrew DiCamillo said.

The city along with Gov. Bill Richardson made a bid deal over the past year about the technology at news conferences.

But according to Belen officials, when the city was ready to tie into PNM's power grid, the company wouldn't recognize the type of solar technology they had chosen.

PNM said the solar-thermal dishes , which first convert the sun's energy to heat, were new and needed extensive safety testing. Instead PNM would only recognize photovoltaic systems which convert sunlight directly to electricity.

"You're creating a monopoly to where you just allow one type of technology to come in," DiCamillo said. "It's not diversity."

PNM said the delay getting Belen hooked up to the grid occurred because the first system is always the most challenging.

"This is a new technology where the incentive program didn't envision this type of solar-thermal technology," PNM Renewable Energy Programs Manager Robert Broderick said.

But on Thursday PNM did hook up the solar power to the grid. And because the city was a trailblazer, other companies and businesses can use this type of power technology and work the PNM.

In addition to Belen being hooked up to the grid, it's also in the process of being approved to sell power back to PNM