BIG CONCERNS
IN NEW MEXICO
Protect New Mexico Counties from IRRESPONSIBLY SITED
Industrial Utility-Scale Solar Facilites
Santa Fe New Mexico Citizens Take Action,
Raise Your Voices…NOW
Our rural neighborhoods and communities are being besieged by energy companies who are aggressively securing as much agriculturally zoned land as they can in our counties to build large, utility-scale, industrial solar facilities.
Why in our neighborhoods? Because its cheaper for energy companies to use our open spaces and agriculturally zoned land to take advantage of lower development costs. We need action now to stop IRRESPONSIBLY SITED Utility-Scale Solar Power Facilitie and Citizens must DEMAND thoughtful and enforceable Utitily-Scale Solar Faciliy Regulations to protect New Mexico Citizens.
It is critical to get involved NOW if you want to preserve your New Mexico quality of life, our beautiful rural land, communities and wildlife habitats.
Rancho Viejo Utility-Scale Solar Facility Proposed by AES
Who is AES?
AES is a global power generation company. Present in15 countries, the company develops, builds and operates renewable power plants.
If completed, the 96 MW Solar + 48 MW Lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) Rancho Viejo Utility-Scale Solar Project will cover 800 acres of privately owned located as close as 1000 feet fromfamily homes, schools and businesses. AES plans to begin construction in 2023 and begin operation by 2024.
SANTA FE COUNTY MEETING INFORMATION
Check back soon for details.
Help Santa Fe, NM County Commissioners Craft STRONG Solar Regulations…No Regrets!
Santa Fe County Officials are elected to protect their residents, STRONG SOLAR REGULATIONS are critial legislation. Regulations that clearly and consistently outline the provisions that are required by our counties to be included in all Utility-Scale Solar project proposals submitted by all energy companies.
AES, as well as other agressive energy companies, make a lot of promises when it comes to Utility-Scale Solar: increased revenue, jobs, little to no impact on the environment and property values. Santa Fe County Solar Regulations that clearly define the provisions of a developer’s obligations will protect and preserve our quality of life, our property values, heritage, the character of our counties and our environment.
Protecting Agricultural Land, Wetlands & Waterways
Strong and consistent County Solar Regulations will clearly govern the siting of industrial utility-scale solar power facilities. Avoidance of locating near homes, non-industrial commercial properties, agricultural land, historical sites, wildlife areas is important. Incentives should be considered for guiding Utility-Scale Solar Power Facilities to brownfield and existing industrially zoned sites FIRST!
Preserving Historical Sites
Did you know there is a ton of history right under your feet? New Mexico counties are full of historic sites that are worth preserving and protecting. Given the number of historic sites in New Mexico and around the country, we advocate for NO Utility-Scale Solar on historic sites.
Limiting Utility-Scale Solar Facility Size
Strong Regulations will clearly define the acceptable size of a solar power facilities allowed in our counties: Total acreage of a project, number of acres of panels, total acres allowed in a county, and distance between projects.
Solar Facility Setbacks and Buffers
AES and other energy corporations claim that solar power plants do not negatively impact property values. If that were true, impacted landowners would not be opposing these projects.
In order to protect adjacent landowners and protect the rural character of our communities, regulations must include generous, clearly defined setbacks and landscape buffers.
Decommissioning Regulations to Protect Counties and Taxpayers
A strong Decommissioning Plan specifies what must happen when the Utiltiy-Scale Solar Facility is no longer operating.
Utiltiy-Scale Solar Developers will try to ignore and/or downplay decommissioning.
Decommissioning massive solar projects is a very important issue for our counties. Developers will try to claim that the net salvage value of their “dead” Solar Facility will exceed the cost of decommissioning.
Utiltiy-Scale Solar Developers usually sell their interest in their Solar Plant after 2 – 3 years of operation. This means that they will be long-gone by the time decommissioning comes around
Did you know? Ownership of Utiltiy-Scale Solar Facilities turns over many times during the life of a system.
Most solar developers/operators are LLCs. They can walk away from their Solar Projects whenever they want to.