The June 11th announcement by El Paso Electric and NRG Energy that a 92-megawatt solar-thermal plant will be built in Santa Teresa, New Mexico is the latest announced renewable energy project slated for construction in Dona Ana County. According to articles in the Las Cruces Sun-News and the Las Cruces Bulletin, the plant will be located near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry and Verde Corporate Realty’s industrial parks in Santa Teresa. The plant will use technology developed by eSolar, a California company El Paso Electric picked to develop a solar project for the utility.
The solar project announcement follows an announcement by R-Qubed Energy that it plans to build a $75 million biogas plant between Vado and Berino. The plant will convert cow manure from the local dairies into methane gas. The gas will be sold to PNM. Other by-products from the plant will include fertilizer, compost and recycled effluent water for re-use on farms. The announcement was one of the front-page stories in the June 5 edition of the New Mexico Business Weekly. Sapphire Energy’s $100 million investment in green crude from algae was also covered on the front-page of the edition.
