Policy and licensing / New Mexico
New Mexico location approval for a large capacity plant
New Mexico requires commission approval before construction of a large capacity plant, defined as generation of 300 megawatts or more. The approval section is effective 1 May 2004. The opened text does not say nuclear and does not grant an approval.
- Category
- Laws, rules and executive directives
- Status
- In effect
- Instrument
- final rule · N.M. Admin. Code § 17.9.592.8
- Issued by
- New Mexico Public Regulation Commission
- Jurisdiction
- New Mexico
- Affects
- Siting
- In effect from
- 1 May 2004 · actual · day
- Expiry or completion
- None recorded
- Operative text
- New Mexico Administrative Code 17.9.592 (Official NMAC text opened 4 October 2026)
- Last checked · next review
- 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15
Legal and geographic scope
No person shall begin construction of a large capacity plant or transmission line without prior commission approval. A large capacity plant is generation within New Mexico designed for or capable of operation at 300 megawatts or more, for sale to the public. The part states an effective date of 1 May 2004 unless a later date is cited at the end of a section. The approval section's own history line is 5/1/2004.
Not approved or still pending
The rule does not approve a plant. It does not say nuclear, so it does not decide a unit below 300 megawatts. Other sections of the same part print a 27 December 2022 amendment. That date is not this approval section's effective date. The cited NMSA sections were not opened. No project is linked.
Dated lifecycle
- 1 May 2004 · actual · day · Took effect — The part prints EFFECTIVE DATE: May 1, 2004, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section. Section 17.9.592.8's history line is 5/1/2004. (New Mexico Administrative Code 17.9.592)
Definitions in this instrument
- Large capacity plant (NMAC 17.9.592): An electric generating plant within New Mexico designed for, or capable of, operation at a capacity of 300 megawatts or more, for sale to the public within or without New Mexico. The opened rule does not use the word nuclear.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.
Projects or designs named by the source
- None. Location in this jurisdiction does not make a project eligible for, or approved under, this measure.
Sources
- New Mexico Administrative Code 17.9.592 (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)