Solar Fields Popping Up In Dona Ana County

Dona Ana County has a new growing industry: construction tied to solar energy.

The sudden boom in renewable energy comes thanks to tax credits being offered by the state, which is why El Paso Electric is tied to three solar energy projects in Dona Ana County.

According to Rocky Miracle, senior VP of corporate planning and development with El Paso Electric, 10 percent of money spent on renewable energy in the state of New Mexico comes back to them. Add that number to the 30 percent they can gain back via their federal income tax credit and nearly half of the money they spend on producing renewable energy is repaid to the company.

In addition to the cash benefits of building renewable energy in New Mexico, there is a necessity for it. New Mexico passed a law in 2007 that says energy companies operating in the state must produce 15 percent of their energy using renewable resources by 2015, and 20 percent by 2020.

Officials within El Paso Electric say the timeline, and tax credits, give them time to develop their strategies.

?It allows us the opportunity, in those particular projects, to see how it interacts with our system and maintain the engineering and all,? said Miracle.

Currently, the growth in Dona Ana County doesn?t match the grand scale of natural gas and nuclear power that is tied to the El Paso grid, but it could grow.

?It?s something that is going to take a priority as time goes on, and the technology improves,? said Miracle.

At issue is the consistency of solar power. As it stands now, electricity from solar fields are only available at the time it generates electricity, which is strictly during daytime hours. Battery systems are potentially in the future, which could allow solar fields to store energy and maintain a constant energy flow to the grid, but currently those technologies are far too expensive.

Larger solar fields in states like California, according to Miracle, have failed because they don?t provide a constant flow of energy. It?s a problem he doesn?t expect to cause an issue with new fields being built in Dona Ana County because they?re not on the same scale.

The Chaparral solar field currently under construction will be owned by Sun Edison who will in turn sell the energy to El Paso Electric. They expect that power plant to add 10 megawatts (MW) to the EP Electric grid. That?s enough to power roughly three thousand homes. A similar site in Santa Teresa will add 20 MW, with a third project near the Las Cruces Airport adding 12 megawatts to the grid.

?It?s really a small piece if you compare it to natural gas and nuclear, but it?s an important piece,? said Miracle.

Signal Energy, which is building the solar fields in Chaparral and Las Cruces, could not make a project manager available for interview prior to this story being published. However, their website boasts more than 20 solar clients whom they?ve contracted for throughout the United States.

It?s a sign of a growing industry, that Rocky Miracle says won?t be going away.

?It has a huge impact as far as what it can do,? said Miracle.