Harry Teague
A large solar producer and another energy company plan to build a 160-acre solar plant in Sierra County near Elephant Butte.
BP Solar and EnergyNovo plan to work together to build the 22-megawatt plant, they announced Monday in a news release and at the Re-Energize America Conference being held at New Mexico State University.
In the release, Sam Senn of EnergyNovo thanked U.S. Rep. Harry Teague, D-N.M. and chair of the NMSU conference, “for his strong leadership in attracting the world’s largest energy company to locate in Southern New Mexico.”
On a conference call with reporters, the companies said they hope Spaceport America will be among the clients of the solar plant, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. No such agreement has been announced.
Teague spoke highly of the planned solar plant.
“It’s clean power, it doesn’t use water, and it will create good jobs for New Mexico,” the Sun-News quoted Teague as saying. “We’re bringing companies from outside New Mexico to partner with local companies to take advantage of our resources.”
BP Solar has plants around the world, but this will be its first in New Mexico. The Sun-News reported that groundbreaking could take place in Sierra County within six months, and construction could take 3-4 months.