Brian Cassutt is the current president of the Renewable Energy Industries Association of New Mexico (REIA) and the Director of Finance for Consolidated Solar Technologies (CST), a company he helped to found. The Renewable Energy Industries Association is an organization of 40 renewable energy companies throughout New Mexico that aims to promote growth in the industry. Brian specializes in solar investment analysis and policy promotion/interpretation.
Throughout the course of the past year, he has taken on three major New Mexico policy initiatives. The first has been the creation of Renewable Energy Finance Districts. Brian has worked with the New Mexico Association of counties to raise funds and assist New Mexico’s counties and municipalities in implementing districts. Successful implementation allows for the creation of Property Assessment Clean Energy Bond (PACE) programs. He is currently working with Santa Fe County in their effort to form the first program in the state.
Brian served as a negotiator on behalf of REIA in recent talks with PNM and New Mexico environmental groups. The negotiations were a result of a request by the governor’s office to reach an agreement between the various stakeholders regarding PNM’s compliance under the New Mexico renewable portfolio standard (RPS) and the proper calculation of the reasonable cost threshold, which is the cost that utilities are permitted to incur in order to meet the RPS. The talks resulted in a stipulated agreement that is currently being considered by the Public Regulations Commission. During the negotiations, Brian served as the lead analyst for the environmental community and the industry, building models to check PNM figures and set incentive structures. This included modeling the portfolio of renewable assets that PNM would procure up until 2015.
Brian has also been working to bring third-party financing to New Mexico. He collaborated with REIA counsel to refute that third-party financial providers should be regulated as public utilities. The case was heard at the Public Regulations Commission which ruled in favor of REIAs position. Currently, REIA is participating in talks with New Mexico’s utilities to reach consensus legislation to amend the Public Utilities Act and clarify the legality of third-party ownership.
In his role at Consolidated Solar Technologies, Brian has developed financial models for residential, commercial, and utility scale projects. He has set up processes for ensuring customer eligibility for available incentives and works with potential large customers to help them understand the full effects that an investment in solar energy has on their organization.
Brian holds a B.A in Political Science from Trinity University and an M.B.A with an emphasis in Finance from the University of New Mexico. He is a licensed New Mexico real-estate broker with a background in real-estate development.