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    Atrisco Solar and Battery Storage Farm Ready to Generate Carbon-Free Electricity into New Mexico Grid

    Sept. 13, 2024
    Sunny New Mexico lags behind neighboring states in solar installation, but new projects such as Atrisco and the Carne solar-storage are bridging that gap.
    A separate solar project in New Mexico. Image credit El Paso Electric
    A separate solar project in New Mexico. Image credit El Paso Electric

    Enlight Renewable Energy has completed its Atrisco solar and energy storage project outside Albuquerque, New Mexico.

    The project, developed and built by Enlight’s U.S. subsidiary Clenera, consists of 364 MW in solar generation capacity and 1.2 GWh of energy storage capacity. The solar generation array is anticipated to be commercially operational very soon and the energy storage (BESS) complex of the project is expected to be completed before end of 2024.

    The power produced at Atrisco will be purchased by the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement. The clean energy to be produced by the facility is equivalent to the average annual consumption of approximately 110,000 New Mexico households.

    The engineering, procurement, and construction contractor was RES Americas, Miller Brothers is the operations and maintenance contractor, Runergy provided solar panels, Array Technologies offered trackers, Sungrow was responsible for string inverters and the energy storage system was supplied by Tesla.

    The project’s total cost was $827 million and total project cost net of tax equity was $407 million. It is expected to generate revenues of $51-55 million annually.

    “Atrisco’s electricity will be generated at an attractive price, reduce carbon emissions, and create economic development and employment opportunities for the broader region,” commented Gilad Yavetz, CEO of Enlight Renewable Energy. “Our additional clean energy projects in New Mexico and the Southwest – some being even larger than Atrisco – are at an advanced development stage.”

    Sunny New Mexico offers great potential for solar power projects statewide, but reportedly lags neighboring states such as Texas and Arizona, according to a story in Albuquerque Business First. However, the state has welcomed numerous utility-scale and distributed energy projects such as the Carne solar and storage farm in Luna County, Pattern Energy’s Western Spirit wind power projects and the Tierra Que Canta residential microgrid in Santa Fe.