December 22 – Energy giant AES Corp. wants to generate 96 megawatts of power and about 45 megawatts of battery storage at a solar site south of Santa Fe, about two miles east of NM 14 and 1.3 miles from Eldorado.
Rancho Viejo Solar would cover 680 acres of the 800-acre parcel and include a solar facility, a 1-acre collector substation, a 3-acre battery storage system and a 2.3-mile generating line.
The facility would have low-level solar panels, a new access road around the perimeter of the site, a 30,000-gallon water storage tank and an office staffed during working hours to limit any fire hazards. The target group for the project is Public Service Company of New Mexico, AES said.
Groups have organized the fight against the project, including the Clean Energy Coalition of Santa Fe County, a nonprofit organized by residents near the proposed site with a total of about 1,200 members.
Project opponents regularly say they support the clean energy transition in general — not surprising in deep-blue Santa Fe County — but insist they are concerned about AES, headquartered outside Washington, D.C., and this project in the special.
Rancho Viejo Solar is a private project financed by AES and a consortium of bank lenders and tax equity investors, said Joshua Mayer, senior development manager for AES. Mayer has touted what he said would be the project’s economic impact, citing 200 direct construction jobs during the project’s construction, more than $200 million in capital investments and an estimated $28 million in labor and wages overall.
The property is attractive to AES because of its proximity to a substation on Richards Avenue and an existing transmission line. The company is seeking a conditional use permit from Santa Fe County to build the project.
Marilyn Hebert, the hearing officer assigned to the company’s application to the county, is expected to make a recommendation in the near future, and after that the county Planning Commission could make a decision as soon as February.
But even if the panel approves the permit, standing parties can appeal, which then turns the decision over to the county commissioners. A decision of the committee can also be appealed to the court.
