Solar generating plant receives final approval

QCS Staff

The Quay County Commission Monday gave final approval to industrial revenue bonds that will give a tax break to a company that plans to build a solar power generating plant next to the wind farm near San Jon.

The commission approved a first reading of the ordinance authorizing the revenue bonds at its Dec. 8 meeting.

The county and the San Jon school district both plan to benefit from the bonds, which do not place the county or the district at financial risk, but make the bonds to finance the solar power generation project the equivalent of municipal bonds, which are tax-free.

The county may receive more than $84,000 a year in “payments in lieu of taxes” over the life of the bonds, County Manager Richard Primrose said, and San Jon Schools could receive more than $58,000 annually in benefits over the life of the bonds. Those totals are based on negotiated rates of $1,535 per megawatt for the county and $1,066 per megawatt for the schools. The plant may produce up to 55 megawatts at any given time.

Infigen, the company that is building the solar generating plant, will be responsible for selling and funding the bond proceeds. The bonds may have a life of up to 30 years at an interest rate that has not been determined.

David Savage, an Infogen senior business development specialist, estimated construction costs of the solar generating project at $33 million.

Savage said the project should eventually develop about 55 megawatts of solar energy, but its first phase will be a 25-megawatt block, which will probably be completed some time in 2016. A megawatt is enough power to energize up to 1,000 households at any given time.

Infigen also owns the Caprock Wind Farm, he said, that can generate up to 80 megawatts.

The solar project is expected to create about 300 jobs during its construction and maintain four employees full-time to manage the facility upon completion, Savage said.

Savage said earlier that Infigen has not signed contracts for sale of the solar project’s power, but that several utilities have expressed interest. The wind farm, he said, sells electricity to Southwest Public

Service, the Xcel Energy subsidiary that provides power to the Tucumcari area, and to the Southwest Power Pool, which distributes wholesale electricity to utilities in nine states, including New Mexico.