Since 2015, New Mexico has received $19.9 million from the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) and $5.1 million from the State Energy Program (SEP), resulting in the following benefits:

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2,308 Homes Weatherized

New Mexico reduced energy costs and improved health and safety in 2,308 homes.*

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409 Jobs Created or Retained

The State Energy Program creates or retains one job for every $12,500 invested.* 

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Connected with 14,624 People About Energy Efficiency Installations

New Mexico held 472 workshops, webinars, trainings, or outreach events since 2015.* 

* Findings from a National Evaluation of the State Energy Program and a National Evaluation of the Weatherization Assistance Program.

States report outcomes of State Energy Program and Weatherization Assistance Program formula (annual) fund activities to DOE on a quarterly basis. The metrics above are outcomes of formula-funded activities since 2015.

The SCEP Project Map highlights the annual formula and competitive funding for WAP and SEP.

New Mexico's State Energy Program at Work

New Mexico’s State Energy Office is the Energy Conservation and Management Division (ECMD) of the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD). 

Grid Modernization Pilot Project – Resilient El Rito

The goal of New Mexico’s grid modernization grant program, established in 2021, is to support replicable pilot projects that facilitate the adoption of renewable resources on the grid and increase grid reliability, grid security, demand response capability, customer service or energy efficiency or conservation. Two projects have been funded since 2021.

Northern New Mexico College (NNMC) is located in the village of El Rito and is served by Kit Carson Electric Cooperative (KCEC) at the end of a single electric power distribution line that traverses mountainous terrain and wilderness and is subject to reliability and resilience challenges common to rural isolated areas. In Response, the Resilient El Rito (RER) project was developed as a collaboration between NNMC and KCEC to facilitate the design and building of the RER Community Microgrid. In fiscal year 2023, the NMSEO awarded funding through the State Energy Program to NNMC to complete the community microgrid feasibility and design studies.

The RER community resilience microgrid will incorporate a NNMC campus microgrid within a larger community microgrid envelope based on KCEC’s local distribution feeder, in a “networked” or “nested” architecture. In the event of an outage, critical loads comprising adjacent public facilities (i.e., fire station, medical/dental clinic, senior center, childcare center, post office) and campus critical loads would be supported indefinitely. The campus 1.5 Mega-watts (MW) PV array would serve as the primary local generation source, to be complemented by a proposed 1.2 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), a proposed backup 20 kilowatts (kW) propane generator and switchgear, communications, and controls technology while the community DER resources include an existing 3.9 MWh BESS and 80kW medical center backup generator.

Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contracts (GESPC)

From January 2022 through June 2023, the Guaranteed Energy Savings Performance Contracts (GESPC) Program has reviewed and certified 5 projects, totaling more than $44.9 million in energy efficient upgrades, of which $26.4 million was financed through the GESPC process. SEP Formula Funds allowed staff time for review, evaluation of energy audits, certification of investment grade audits, and oversight of these projects. The 5 projects that were certified during the project year will save the public entities more than $1.3 million per year in utility spending. In addition, SEP-funded staff continue to monitor more than 30 projects that bring the GESPC Program savings totals to 17.7 million therms of gas, 8.3 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, and 34.5 million gallons of water annually.

New Mexico Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan

ECMD is leading the development of New Mexico’s first Climate Adaptation and Resilience Plan and is working with state agencies to develop their internal capacity to plan for climate resilience and adaptation. As part of this process, the Climate Policy Bureau coordinated with the NM Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM) to develop a Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience annex to the 2023 State Hazard Mitigation plan update. ECMD held workshops with state agencies to identify resilience strategies to be included in the plan, support them to prioritize state actions that mitigate vulnerabilities and risks from natural hazards likely to be exacerbated by climate change, and build capacity to integrate climate hazards into state agency operations plans.

Increasing Renewable Energy Generation with Incentive Programs

New Mexico is a leader in developing incentive programs with long-term benefits for renewable energy resources. With SEP funding, ECMD administers various types of clean energy tax credit incentives:

  • The Sustainable Building Tax Credit (SBTC) reflects the state’s intention to incentivize cutting-edge sustainable building practices, as well as the use of energy-efficient products. There are two types of tax credits available under the program—one for installation of certain energy-efficient products in existing residences and another for commercial renovation and new construction projects.
     
  • The Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (REPTC) program supports utility-scale wind, biomass, and solar projects by certifying renewable energy generation allocation for access to a refundable 10-year tax credit against the corporate or personal income taxes.
     
  • The New Solar Market Development Income Tax Credit was passed by the 2020 New Mexico Legislature. The program will provide a 10% tax credit with a value up to $6,000 for a solar system. The New Mexico State Energy Office began administering the program in August 2020.
     

Workforce Development

The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, in partnership with Doña Ana Community College, Northern New Mexico College, San Juan College, and Santa Fe Community College and through support by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under the Building Technologies Office Award Number DE-EE0009739, is offering FREE continuing education and training opportunities for construction industry professionals.

Trainings cover aspects of both the residential and commercial energy conservation codes and associated codes and standards in both live and/or online formats. Trainings target the knowledge needs of both design/build industry professionals as well as code officials performing plan reviews and inspections. Professionals can attend trainings to fulfill CEU or PDH requirements.

Visit the Sustainable Education for Advanced Buildings website for more information.

Alternative Fuel Vehicle Promotion

ECMD reports annually to the DOE on alternative fuel vehicles purchased by state fleet managers and higher education institutions, in compliance with the federal Energy Policy Act and the New Mexico Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act. Though these Acts require 75% of all new light-weight vehicle purchases to be alternative fuel, New Mexico often fails to meet the standards and therefore uses up banked credits from other forms of compliance. The SEP-funded staff have been working closely with fleet managers, the Transportation Climate Action Team, State Purchasing Division and others to expand the availability and ease of purchasing alternative fuel vehicles. Additionally, ECMD has been working with NMDOT on the expansion of EV infrastructure throughout the state, which will enable broader EV adoption by state agencies and by the public. 


Biofuels and Hydrogen Promotion

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources support the production and use of biofuels and hydrogen in the state by modifying policies and expanding opportunities for these industries. New Mexico has tried to uphold a biodiesel mandate, whereby all diesel in the state must contain 5% biodiesel. This mandate has been waived every six months since its inception because there has not been enough supply of biodiesel to meet the 5% requirement. In the last few years, a renewable diesel refinery has been constructed in southeastern New Mexico, which can provide another source of lower-carbon intensity fuel to the state. Staff enhance the opportunities for these alternative fuels by proposing modified policies to level the playing field for renewable diesel, as well as by applying for hydrogen as an Alternative Fuel Corridor designation and other hydrogen hub opportunities.

New Mexico's Weatherization Assistance Program at Work

The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority is the managing agency of New Mexico's Weatherization Assistance Program, called "New Mexico Energy$mart." The New Mexico WAP contracts with three nonprofits to provide weatherization services to the state's low-income residents. When a home is weatherized through New Mexico Energy$mart, residents claim their heating costs are reduced by about 32%, with an average reduction in overall energy costs of 15%.

New Mexico's Energy$mart program paved the way for a highly successful weatherization training program offered at Santa Fe Community College, the EnergySmart Academy. The EnergySmart Academy offers courses in residential construction for the general market and, more specifically, New Mexico's WAP. The four core programs—Retrofit Installer Technician, Crew Leader, Energy Auditor and Quality Control Inspector—are all accredited with the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC).

Between 2010 and 2023, New Mexico weatherized an average of 225 homes per year with formula funds, and is averaging 43 homes a month with BIL funds.

New Mexico Takes Initiative

Better Buildings Initiative

More than 900 organizations are involved in the Better Buildings Initiative working to reduce energy and water waste and modernize the nation’s buildings and industrial facilities. Download the 2023 Better Buildings Progress Report for more information on the Initiative as a whole.

Better Buildings Challenge Partners

The city of Santa Fe and Albuquerque Public Schools have taken on the Better Buildings Challenge, a commitment to reduce the energy use of their entire building portfolios by 20% within 10 years and are making progress toward their energy reduction goals. As of 2021, public-sector Challenge partners have cumulatively saved 133 trillion Btus of energy, $1.27 billion, and 1.5 billion gallons of water since the Challenge was launched in 2011.

Better Buildings Accelerators

In the past five years, SCEP has engaged nearly 100 partners in Better Buildings Accelerators. These Accelerators are designed to demonstrate specific innovative policies and approaches, which will accelerate investment in energy efficiency upon successful demonstration. Each Accelerator is a targeted, short-term, partner-focused activity designed to address persistent barriers that stand in the way of greater efficiency.

To learn more about other Better Buildings partners and solutions in the state of California and other states involved in the Better Buildings Initiative, check out the Better Buildings Partner map.

ESPC Accelerator Partners

The state of New Mexico helped catalyze public-sector energy efficiency investments of over $2.1 billion in Energy Savings Performance Contracting (ESPC) from 2014–2016 as one of 25 state and local agency partners in the ESPC Accelerator. See demonstrated best practices in the ESPC Toolkit.

Sustainable Wastewater of the Future (SWIFt) Initiative 

The state of New Mexico, the city of Little Falls, and the village of Los Lunas committed to improving the energy efficiency of their participating water resource recovery facilities as part of the Sustainable Wastewater Infrastructure of the Future (SWIFt) Initiative Phase 2. SWIFt Phase 2 is engaging wastewater treatment facilities in a voluntarily partnership to achieve 5% short-term and 25% long-term facility-wide energy savings and implement at least one next-generation technology (e.g., renewable energy, resource recovery, and advanced data management). SWIFt Phase 1 hosted 25 state, regional, and local agencies that engaged with more than 70 water resource recovery facilities in their jurisdictions and successfully reduced their total energy consumption by almost 7%, adopted best-practice energy management approaches now showcased in the​​​​​​​ Wastewater Energy Management Toolkit, and created plans to achieve 30% energy savings.

Working Groups

C-PACE Working Group

The state of New Mexico and Bernalillo County, partners in DOE’s Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) Working Group, actively worked to develop or refine their C-PACE program with technical assistance from DOE, National Laboratories, and other subject matter experts. The C-PACE Working Group, which concluded in 2020, included more than 30 state and local participants working to learn about, launch, and refine C-PACE financing programs. Partners in the C-PACE Working Group achieved $70 million in C-PACE-financed investments in building upgrades. For more information, see the C-PACE Working Group.

Publications, Resources, Helpful Links