A New Mexico electric company has federal permission to proceed with a construction project to install a renewable energy transmission line across public lands to connect a solar facility and a substation.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management announced March 6 its decision to approve El Paso Electric Co.'s La Mesa Gen-Tie Project in Doña Ana County, southeast of Las Cruces, N.M. The approval grants the electric company right-of-way to "construct, operate, and maintain a 24-kilovolt generation interconnection (gen-tie) line and access road across public land," according to the announcement. The 4.7-mile gen-tie line will cross approximately two miles of public land managed by the BLM to connect the La Mesa Solar Facility and the Anthony substation, the announcement reports.
"The BLM manages vast stretches of public lands that have the potential to make significant contributions to the nation’s renewable energy portfolio," the agency states in the announcement. "To promote our clean energy goals, the BLM is authorized to issue grants and leases for environmentally sound development of renewable energy on public land and new transmission routes to connect into the grid."
The BLM released a fact sheet on the proposal that answers specific questions on the project such as its size, location, purpose, construction plans and timeline. The fact sheet states a 24-kV, three-phase overhead distribution line totaling 5.6 miles would go across public and private land in a 50-foot-wide right-of-way (ROW) corridor to connect a solar facility being near Berino, N.M. to the Anthony (N.M.) Substation.
"A portion of the Project would rebuild an existing powerline within an existing ROW and a majority of the line will be new construction," the report states. "Once built, the distribution line would connect the solar facility to the electrical grid to transmit power generated by the solar facility to the existing grid."
The BLM's Las Cruces District Office issued its Finding of No Significant Impact report Dec. 21, 2022, which was the final step in the approval process for the construction project. The findings note that there is no significant impact to public health. Traffic impacts are deemed temporary and minimal, the BLM report states, and the project poses no impact on area historic features.
The impact report notes also that “approximately 3.5 miles of the project would be new distribution line, and approximately 1.2 miles would be a rebuild of an existing distribution line. The project would disturb 32.4 acres total; approximately 14.9 acres are located on public land, of which 13.6 acres would be subject to permanent disturbance, with a project life of 30 years or more.”
It will take four to six months to complete the construction of the La Mesa Solar Interconnection Project, according to the fact sheet.
“Bureau of Land Management New Mexico is thrilled to play a role in fulfilling the President’s vision of deploying sustainable clean energy from our nation’s public lands," Melanie Barnes, BLM’s New Mexico state director said in the announcement. "The authorization of this gen-tie line will help us support this effort by adding 20 megawatts to the grid."
