Solar Project of the Week: SunEdison and Xcel Energy Installations in New Mexico

Three of five solar power plants in Lea and Eddy Counties are now online.

Shayle Kann September 26, 2011

Shayle Kann

Senior Vice President, Greentech Media & Head of GTM Research
Greentech Media

Shayle Kann leads GTM Research, the market analysis, advisory and consulting division of Greentech Media. GTM Research analyzes and forecasts the dynamics impacting the transformation of the global electricity sector. An expert on next-generation energy, he has presented at conferences around the world, been featured in publications such as The Economist, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, and Financial Times, spoken at Harvard, Yale, MIT and Columbia, and testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The first 32.2 megawatts of SunEdison and Xcel Energy’s 53.5-megawatt solar project in New Mexico are now online.

Three of the five solar power plants in Lea and Eddy Counties have been activated, including a 10.9-megawatt installation in Carlsbad and two 10.7-megawatt installations in Jal. The remaining two installations, a 10.6-megawatt plant in Eunice and a 10.6-megawatt plant in Monument, are expected to come online by November of this year. SunEdison, a subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, is responsible for deployment and maintenance of all five installations.

The New Mexico project will produce more than 1.9 million megawatt-hours of electricity over the next 20 years to be sold to Xcel Energy under a solar power services agreement. Energy from the project will help Xcel Energy to continue to meet New Mexico’s renewable portfolio standard, which requires that regulated utilities meet 15 percent of their electricity needs through renewable energy sources by 2015.

Wells Fargo & Company provided more than $200 million of funding for the installation phase of the project. Financing for the installations in Lea and Eddy Counties represent the company’s largest renewable energy construction loan to date.

Additionally, Wells Fargo & Company is committed to providing permanent equity financing for all five projects upon completion by the end of the year.