After lengthy hearings on back to back days, the Santa Fe County Planning Commission last night approved the Rancho Viejo Solar project.
The proposed commercial solar and battery storage facility earned the go ahead, with conditions, from the planning commissioners by a 6 to 1 tally.
The commission’s decision to approve the application for a conditional use permit went against the decision of Marilyn Hebert, who about two months ago, in her role as a land use hearing officer, recommended the proposal be rejected.
Community members had presented a highly organized and vocal opposition to the proposal submitted by Virginia-based AES Clean Energy Development.
The opposition’s main concern was that a lithium battery failure could ignite a fire that in turn would spread and damage homes nearest to the site.
Those homes, in the Eldorado and San Marcos communities, are located about a mile and a half away from where the project’s battery installations would be located.
AES Senior Development manager Joshua Mayer often responded to those concerns by saying that his company’s use of the latest standards, technology, and testing protocols reduced the chance of a thermal runaway fire to nearly zero.
He added that there has never been an incident in the U.S. of a “battery energy storage fire spreading beyond its containment and property boundary.”
In his closing argument yesterday, Mayer said that his company had responded to every concern and request for additional testing and documentation.
“Some people have tried to allude that we picked Santa Fe County because this is easy, low-hanging fruit, to take advantage of their permitting process,” Mayer said.
“This has been the longest, most extensive permitting process I've ever experienced for a project, and that's not at all a slight at the county. In many ways that is a tip of the hat. Given the concern of the community, the onus is on us.”
A fire consultant working for Santa Fe County generated a list of 90 concerns that must be addressed before the project can receive final approval.
In addition to meeting those conditions, Rancho Viejo Solar must hit a few more posts before it becomes a reality.
According to a county spokesperson, county staff will draft a final order based on last night’s approval that will go before the lanning Commission at its next regular meeting as a consent item to be signed by chair Erik Abboe.
Once the order is filed with the County Clerk, a 30-day appeal process will begin.
AES faces a May 14 deadline to file its request for proposals application with the Public Service Company of New Mexico, (PNM). That’s when AES will put in what Mayer earlier called its “firm price and bid” to the utility.
In a message sent to KSFR after yesterday’s hearing, Mayer expressed gratitude for the commission’s approach and the community for its support.
He said that the project will power 37,000 Santa Fe homes with clean energy, create jobs, and generate millions of dollars in tax revenue for Santa Fe County.
The Planning Commission’s next meeting is scheduled for February 20. (A county spokesperson explained that it is during the March 20 meeting that the Planning Commission will deal with this week's decision as a Consent item.)
