ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—A 500,000-panel solar photovoltaic power plant that will stretch for nearly a mile is being planned on the high plains of northeastern New Mexico between Springer and Cimarron.
Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association of Westminster, Colo., announced Tuesday it has entered into an agreement with Tempe, Ariz.-based First Solar Inc. to develop the plant. It will produce 30 megawatts—enough electricity for the needs of about 9,000 homes.
“This is a major, major undertaking. As you stand there, literally as far as your eye can see will be rows of solar panels,” Tri-State spokesman Jim Van Someren said. “It’s going to be quite a facility.”
The Cimarron I Solar Project will be the largest photovoltaic project by an electric cooperative and one of the largest in the world, Tri-State said.
Construction at the 250-acre site is slated to begin in April 2010. Each 2- by 4-foot panel in the solar field will be constructed with a thin film semiconductor technology patented by First Solar, which was formed in 1999 and launched commercial products in 2002.
The first part of the system is expected to be producing energy by August 2010. The plant, which will be owned and operated by First Solar, is to be fully operational by the end of next year.
Tri-State has contracted to purchase the electricity from the facility for 25 years. The companies said, however, financial and operational terms of their agreement are confidential.
The land was leased from a private owner from New Mexico, but First Solar would not release the name or terms of the lease.
It will be Tri-State’s first-ever solar venture, although the generation and transmission company already has some renewable energy. It gets about 13 percent of its power from hydroelectric facilities operated by the federal government and buys a small amount of power from a wind farm in Wyoming, Van Someren said.
New Mexico will require cooperatives to receive 10 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. That mandate does not affect Tri-State directly, since it sells on the wholesale market, but it has an obligation to help member cooperatives meet that renewable portfolio standard, Van Someren said.
Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico U.S. Sens. Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall, and Rep. Ben Ray Lujan, whose district includes the area, praised the project as a way to promote both clean energy and jobs.
Some 120 to 140 construction jobs are expected to be created while the plant is being built, but First Solar said only one or two permanent jobs will be created once the field goes into operation.
The agreement culminates a request for proposals Tri-State sent out in December 2007. Tri-State’s board last year selected First Solar’s proposal best fitting the utility’s needs, then negotiated the agreement over several months, Van Someren said.
John Carrington, First Solar’s executive vice president of marketing and business development, said the plant is “another important demonstration of our ability to provide affordable, utility-scale solar solutions.”
The project will be built in the service territory of Springer Electric Cooperative, one of Tri-State’s 12 New Mexico member cooperatives.
“It’s a great place for sun power,” Van Someren said.
Tri-State general manager and executive vice president Ken Anderson said the plant will diversify Tri-State’s energy generation mix, help it address carbon emissions and help meet members’ renewable energy requirements.
Tri-State generates and sends electricity to 44 electric cooperatives serving more than 1.4 million customers in a 250,000-square-mile territory across Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska and Wyoming.
