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Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department: Energy Conservation and Management Division

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HENRC Amendment

The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee amendment is clean up language and does not change the original intent of the bill.

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 216 provides $80.0 of general fund for the Energy Conservation and Management Division of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) to conduct a practical demonstration of a solar photovoltaic system and an ultra-high-efficiency co-generation fuel cell system. The goal of the project is to demonstrate a new generation of electric and fossil fuel technologies while providing an opportunity to evaluate their potential economic and environmental benefits.

Significant Issues

The department would report findings of the project to the Legislature in two years.

Fuel cell technology is a core competency of existing public and private sector entities located in New Mexico. In fact, the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is quite active researching this technology and has worked with private companies to commercialize this technology. Universities in New Mexico too have been involved in the research and development of this technology.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

House Bill 218 would provide an appropriation to EMNRD to carry out the objective of the bill.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Ideally, the department would work with the existing scientific community to complete this project, therefore, EMNRD would not need to hire additional staff to implement this legislation.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The bill provides only for an appropriation in fiscal year 2000, but identifies the completion date as 2001 for this project.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1. What universities, private companies, or national laboratories currently conduct scientific experiments with fuel cells technology and how do these experiments parallel with the project being proposed by House Bill 218?

2. Is this technology within the public domain, or do private companies or national laboratories maintain exclusive licensing rights?

3. Because private companies have commercialized this technology and thus maintain intellectual property rights, can the State of New Mexico legally embark into this arena of testing and demonstration of a commercial technology?

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