Article from Solar Builder Magazine

The old coal plant looks like it’s getting swallowed by the new solar array. Escalante Solar was built across 1,714 acres on the site of the former 253 MW coal-fired Escalante Station in Prewitt, New Mexico, which was retired in 2020, as Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association pursues its Responsible Energy Plan.

The project brings 238 MWdc / 200 MWac of renewable solar generation to Tri-State’s members, including 11 electric cooperative members in New Mexico, under a power purchase agreement with Origis Energy.

“There’s some cool symbolism when you see it, especially from the air, of this coal plant that literally looks like it’s getting swallowed or enveloped by a PV array,” says Kevin Bassalleck, president of Albuquerque-based Gridworks, which provided construction services for the project.

Bassalleck says the symbolism of the project site “fits with not only the Energy Transition Act in New Mexico and the specific targets in that legislation, but just sort of broadly what’s happening in the industry with coal resources retiring and being replaced by solar. In this case, you can literally see it happening.”

He adds: “The backdrop is pretty dramatic when you see it out there with the desert mesas rising up right behind the array. The photos do a better job of saying that than I can put into words.”

Background

Gridworks became involved with the Escalante Solar project after having previously worked with the original developer of the project, Bassalleck says. The company also had a relationship with some of Tri-State’s distribution member co-ops.

“Some introductions were made between our team and Origis, and we worked pretty proactively with them from an early stage of the project,” Bassalleck adds. “There was a little bit of development engineering support, as it’s a pretty challenging site, and the site constraints are complex. The infrastructure around the coal plant is complex.”

Tri-State’s Responsible Energy Plan involves reaching 50% renewable generation by 2025, and the Escalante Solar project is a key component of reaching that goal, says John Hunter, project director at Gridworks. Tri-State’s 50% milestone is five years ahead of statewide sustainability targets.

Bassalleck explains that New Mexico passed the Energy Transition Act in 2019 to shift the state’s energy sources toward 100% renewables by 2050. The legislation sets a renewable energy standard of 50% by 2030 for investor-owned utilities and rural electric cooperatives and a goal of 80% by 2040. The law sets a zero-carbon resources deadline for investor-owned utilities by 2045 and rural electric cooperatives by 2050.

“At the time that was to some degree a controversial legislative package,” Bassalleck says. “I think a lot of the folks in the utility space probably thought those targets were far too aggressive and not feasible to hit.”

Bassalleck congratulated Tri-State for taking a progressive stance compared to other generation and transmission (G&T) companies in the state.

“Big kudos to Tri-State,” he says. “They took that seriously and really got after it from a procurement and resource planning perspective. And five years ahead of schedule is a big, big deal, especially for a G&T like Tri-State that geographically has a huge service territory.”

To read the full article, click here