A crowd of Santa Fe County residents yesterday aired out their concerns at a hearing about a proposed massive solar power project.
The sustainable land development code hearing addressed the controversial proposed Rancho Viejo Solar Battery plan.
It would be constructed as a 96-megawatt solar facility on an 800 acre plus property with borders about 4,000 feet from the Eldorado community and 550 feet from the Rancho San Marco subdivision.
Area residents have criticized the project for what they say are risks posed by potential fire to their communities.
Opponents have frequently cited three previous fires stemming from projects built by the firm that seeks to install the solar facility in Santa Fe County, AES Clean Energy Development.
Two of those fires occurred in Arizona and one in California.
Clean Energy Coalition of Santa Fe County called the 2019 AES battery fire in Surprise, Arizona called the most dangerous battery energy storage systems fire in history.
A representative for AES presented during the meeting and said that the firm had been working with county and fire officials to ensure it was meeting safety requirements.
AES senior development manager Joshua Mayer added that the technology to be used in the Santa Fe project has advanced so far in the past five years that the new system doesn’t compare to the one used in Surprise, Arizona.
Catherine Babbit, the lead witness and questioner for the Clean Energy Coalition grilled AES and government representatives at length during the hearing.
At one point, Dominic Sisneros, team supervisor in the Santa Fe County Building and Development Services Division, answered a question about how they evaluated the safety of the proposed project.
”We rely on our third party reviewer-as well as Santa Fe County Fire-to ensure that it's going to meet all standards of the fire code, and therefore ensure the safety for the community,” Sisneros said.
“The risk of fire would be deemed minimal. It would be contained within the container, as I understand it.”
The day-long session at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center featured a full afternoon of public comments as project managers and backers answered and spoke about the project until about 5 p.m..
AES and some county officials lauded the project as an important step forward in green energy progress.
Joshua Mayer, of AES, said it would help establish New Mexico as a leader in climate-sensitive energy production and management.
The officer overseeing the hearing, Marilyn Hebert, had to on a few occasions, threaten attendees with expulsion if they didn’t refrain from applauding or booing what they were hearing from one side or another.
Hebert will make a recommendation about the project within 30 days to the county’s Planning Commission, according to county spokesperson Olivia Romo.
Planners are scheduled to take action on the solar project in their February 3 meeting.
If all goes according to plan, the Santa Fe County Planning Comission will, on that day, also issue a written decision which will constitute a permit or denial of the respective application.
