AES’ Rancho Viejo Solar project is a planned solar facility that will incorporate the most advanced solar energy and battery storage technologies and is designed to minimize impact on the local environment. Rancho Viejo Solar will support New Mexico’s clean energy goal of 50% renewable by 2030, and 100% renewable by 2045.
Project overview
96 MW Solar + 48 MW Battery Energy Storage
Enough clean energy to power 30,000 New Mexican homes annually
* EPA Calculator
Developed on 680 acres of privately owned land
Located off South NM HWY 14
Provides clean energy to PNM customers
35-year project life span with AES as long-term owner and operator
Project updates
Rancho Viejo Solar Pre-Application Neighborhood Meeting
AES is hosting a pre-application neighborhood meeting to share the latest information about the project, answer questions and receive feedback.
Details
Thursday, August 22, 2024
5:00 PM-7:00 PM
Santa Fe Community College
Jemez Rooms
6401 Richards Ave.
Santa Fe, NM 87508
Review the meeting presentation
Conditional Use Permit
For publicly available copies of the CUP application, please contact the Santa Fe County Planning Department.
AES submitted Rancho Viejo Solar’s Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to the Santa Fe Planning Department on January 26, 2023. Copies will become public information upon the determination of a complete report by County officials.
The AES team has been working closely with the community over the past many months and we have heard your questions, concerns, and suggestions. We have listened and adjusted our plans to ensure that AES’ Rancho Viejo Solar project reflects our commitment to being a good neighbor, and delivers long-lasting, positive impact.
The site design has been adjusted so that the project is no longer directly to the north of the San Marcos neighborhood and therefore all necessary modules will move to the northeast corner of the site. This shift in design will continue to ensure the neighboring residents of Rancho San Marcos will have as unobstructed viewshed as possible to the north. Updated visual simulations were developed and are available below on this page. The battery energy storage systems (BESS) will be located in the remote northeast corner of the site design, more than one mile from any residential property.
Neighborhood Meetings
To apply for a Conditional Use Permit, the County requires project applicants to host a pre-application neighborhood meeting.
AES hosted two in-person and one virtual meeting, giving notice to adjacent property owners by First Class Mail, email notification and published a half-page advertisement in the Santa Fe New Mexican, inviting the public to attend.
Neighborhood meetings were held at the Turquoise Trail Charter School on August 3 and October 4, 2022. A virtual meeting was hosted on January 4, 2023. A recording of the October 4, 2022 meeting is linked at the bottom of this page, along with the slide presentation.
Project details
Rancho Viejo solar
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96 MWac solar facility paired with 48 MW containerized lithium-ion battery energy storage system (BESS)
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Will be built on 680 +/- acre project area across 8,200 acre of privately-owned land
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Feeds into the Public Service of New Mexico (PNM) grid, providing power to PNM customers
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Located in Santa Fe County, off South Hwy 14. The solar project will be set-back 2 miles from the highway
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The project will be set-back a minimum of 1,000 ft from any adjacent property boundary
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AES will be long-term owner and operator
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At the end of the project’s life, a decommissioning plan allows for the land to be sensitively restored to pre-existing conditions
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The decommissioning bond, Letter of Credit or Parent Guaranty will be held in the County’s name and will be reviewed to ensure it satisfies current market cost to decommission project
Current proposed equipment specs:
| PV Modules: | Make: BYD MLTK-36 550W |
| Inverter: | Make: GPTech PV3MWD |
| Racking: | Make: ATI DuraTrack |
| Battery Module: | Module: SDE E5S |
| Battery Container: | Make: CEN 40’ ISO |
| Battery Inverter: | Make: GPTECH 3MWD3-V730 |
Clean energy benefits local communities
- Long-term tax revenue to counties, towns and school districts
- Job creation during construction and operation
- Landowner income diversification, empowering landowner rights
- Local economic stimulus during construction
- Affordable, reliable, locally produced clean energy
- Improved air quality and reduced CO2 emissions
- Social impact funding to area community organizations and non-profits
- Non-permanent development and low-impact construction that ensures land can be sensitively restored to pre-project conditions at the end of the project’s life
Economic and environmental benefits
We believe in being a good neighbor, ensuring responsible clean energy development that benefits both the environment and local communities without burdening existing infrastructure.
277,315 MWh
carbon-free electricity each year
119,965 tons of CO2 emissions expected to be offset each year, equivalent to the emissions generated by 25,849 cars driven in one year
*EPA Calculator
$7 million tax revenue
expected to be generated in tax revenue for Santa Fe County over the life of the project
200+ jobs
expected to be created during peak construction
Best practices in responsible battery energy storage management
At AES, safety is our highest priority, and we’ve focused on improving lives for more than 40 years. As a leading innovator in energy solutions, sustainability is core to both our strategy and our culture. We are committed to responsible land use and incorporating sustainable best practices into the entire project lifecycle, contributing to building a domestic circular renewables economy and reducing foreign dependence.
AES is the world leader in lithium-ion-based energy storage, both through our projects business and joint venture Fluence. We pioneered the technology over one decade ago, and today almost half our new projects include a storage component.
AES is working closely with Santa Fe officials during the Rancho Viejo Solar project’s development and with the Santa Fe County Fire Department to implement safety best practices and training.
AES designs, specifies, and procures energy storage modules, systems, and enclosures driven by wholistic plant safety, performance, and reliability metrics. The components are independently tested and then certified to several industry standards, including UL 1642, UL 1973, and UL 9540, as well as designed compliant to NFPA 855.
Visual simulations
Photo-realistic simulations provide a visual rendering of the before-and-after conditions of the planned project.
We have updated the visual simulations to match our new design plans.
Environmental and technical studies
We conduct a series of studies that ensure our projects are thoughtfully and responsibly designed.
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Aquatic Resources Inventory Report: Completed May 2022
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Biological Survey Report: Completed May 2022
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Phase I Environmental Site Assessment: Completed May 2022
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Environmental Impact Report: In progress October 2022
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Cultural Resources Pedestrian Survey Report: Completed July 2022
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Hydrologic and Hydraulic Study: October 2022
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Site Thresholds Analysis: In progress October 2022
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Geotechnical Investigation: Completed September 2022
Partnering with communities for the future of energy
At AES, we understand that our success as a company is only as strong as our partnerships with the communities where we operate. That’s why we partner with communities, customers, state agencies, higher education, elected officials and other key stakeholders to see how we can best work together to support sustainable social and economic development.
