I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A Spanish company will invest $1 billion near Santa Rosa to build one of the largest solar arrays in the world, Gov. Bill Richardson announced today.
“I believe this unprecedented investment shows that New Mexico has not only become the center of the North American solar industry, but is ready to take its place as a global player in the production of renewable energy,” Richardson said during a late morning press conference.
The project, funded by Corporacion Gestamp, will produce 300 construction jobs during the estimated four years needed to build the facility, state officials said. Once up and running, the solar array will stretch over 2,500 acres and generate 300 mega-watts of electricity, or enough electricity to power 50,000 households for a year, said the company’s CEO Juan Riberas.
Rep. Jose Campos, and mayor of Santa Rosa, welcomed the news Wednesday.
“We have strived to become the Silicon Valley of renewable energy in the nation and now these companies are finally recognizing the state of New Mexico for all the resources and assets that we have. Obviously we do have a lot of wind. We have a lot of sun. And we have a lot of biomass opportunities. The one challenge we do have is to create better transmission.”
Facilities such as the one envisioned by Corporacion Gestamp can generate electricity but require transmission lines of a certain capacity to get that power out.
Campos later said he knew of no problems the company would encounter in transmitting its power from the facility. A large transmission line owned by the Public Service Company of New Mexico runs about 15 miles north of the proposed facility, state officials said.
Richardson and state economic development officials touted Tuesday’s announcement as another sign of New Mexico’s growing reputation in the world’s renewable energy market.
Corporacion Gestamp has more than 20,000 employees in 22 countries around the globe, Riberas said.
“They’re for real,” added Clark Krause of the New Mexico Partnership. The state began talks with the multinational firm a year ago in San Diego and has been courting the company since, officials said.
Over the past14 months, New Mexico has announced plans for several solar facilities, including Schott Solar in Albuquerque and Signet Solar in Belen, would around New Mexico.
Not all the solar facilities are finding an easy path, however.
Signet Solar in Belen has run into challenges getting its facility up and running, according to published reports.
The $840 million solar manufacturer was unable to secure a loan guarantee for the first phase of its project, the Valencia County News Bulletin reported Wednesday.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Energy rejected a loan guarantee for Signet Solar Inc., an assurance on a bank loan that was meant to back 80 percent of the $220 million for the initial phase of the four-part expansion, according to Jim Wood, vice president of Coast Range Investments, the developer of the project.
