Committee approves Virtual Power Plant bill after amendment, experts and utilities debate costs and oversight
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Summary
The House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee amended and passed HB311, the Virtual Power Plant Act, after extended testimony from utilities, clean-energy advocates and technical experts over timelines, consumer protections and potential cost shifts to nonparticipants.
The House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee voted to pass House Bill 311, the Virtual Power Plant Act, after adopting an amendment that pushes the PRC rulemaking deadline and staggers implementation timelines.
Supporters said the bill would give the state a tool to aggregate distributed energy resources — batteries, smart thermostats, managed EV charging and other devices — into dispatchable capacity that can reduce peak demand and defer costly new infrastructure. “Virtual power plants can respond quickly during peak demand and other high stress conditions on the system,” said Alex Eubanks of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project, urging a due pass.
Opponents — led by a representative of PNM, the state’s investor-owned utility — warned the timeline and design present reliability, cybersecurity and customer-data risks and questioned whether cost-recovery rules would cover utility implementation expenses. The PNM representative testified that, given current infrastructure, meeting the program target by 2027 would be “not achievable” and concluded, “PNM respectfully opposes this bill.”
Expert witnesses and proponents said participation will be opt-in, that solar without paired storage cannot be dispatched on demand, and that a mix of device types can be aggregated without requiring smart-meter rollouts. “Unfortunately, solar without storage cannot participate,” said Chloe Holden, the expert witness, adding that batteries and other devices make resources dispatchable and that regulators would determine implementation and compensation mechanisms.
Committee members pressed on equity and the potential for cost shifts to customers who do not participate. Sponsors and experts pointed to modeling and analyses that project systemwide savings from large-scale VPPs, including a cited RMI estimate for a broad VPP deployment that showed system savings and per-household benefits. The sponsor also said the bill includes PRC oversight of third-party aggregators and that rulemakings will set data access, event protocols and conditions for participation.
After lengthy questioning, the committee moved to pass HB311; the clerk recorded a roll-call vote and the chair announced the bill passed out of committee.
