Energy storage project could help PNM meet its renewable energy goals
New battery storage projects aimed at helping PNM reach its renewable energy goals could be coming to Bernalillo County.
Sun Lasso Energy Center plans to build a battery energy storage system in southwest Albuquerque, which would be used to store excess energy. The goal of the project would be to help PNM reach net-zero emissions by storing renewable energy produced during times of high supply and low demand.
“It’s encouraging and spurring the growth of climate pollution reduction, and so this allows us to build out our electrical infrastructure,” said Marcos Gonzales, Bernalillo County’s executive development director.
Sun Lasso is an affiliate of Aypa Power, which is working on similar battery energy storage systems in California and Texas.
PNM has requested bids for generation resources to help the utility meet its commitment to a zero-carbon future by 2040. The Sun Lasso project is in response to that request and will be unlikely to go forward if it does not get the bid.
“All over the state, these type of projects are looking to take place,” Gonzales said. “And in some places, they’re also combining wind turbines and the battery storage or solar and the battery storage, just because the battery storage will give you that offset when the sun isn’t shining or the wind’s not blowing. Because those projects still have to deliver electricity per contract, but the battery allows them to do that without having to have a natural gas or some other type of fossil fuel supplement.”
The project could receive tax breaks from Bernalillo County. Sun Lasso has applied for $205 million in industrial revenue bonds. The bonds would be a private investment, but if given final approval, the county would essentially be giving Sun Lasso a tax break on internal building improvements, machinery and equipment.
If the industrial revenue bond gets final approval, the project would get a break on $2.4 million in county gross receipts tax and $5.6 million in personal property tax. The company would still be responsible for paying $35,212 in real taxes, $2.2 million in payment in lieu of taxes and $4.5 million in gross receipts taxes — bringing $6.9 million to the county.
The nine-acre site at 10100 Central SW is across from the PNM Central substation and surrounded by high voltage transmission lines, according to the project application. The facility could provide an estimated 10% of the storage that PNM would need to meet its carbon reduction goals.
The county passed an inducement resolution for the bonds, which will give the public a 30-day window to comment on the proposition before the commissioners can vote on it again. The bond ordinance likely won’t come before the commissioners for approval until the fall, said Gonzales.
The Sun Lasso project is estimated to bring $282.6 million to the local economy, according to the project application. Construction would create and support 73 construction jobs over a year and one permanent job for an on-site technician. Construction would be expected to begin in the fourth quarter of 2025, allowing the project to become operational by the second quarter of 2027.
Property taxes in the area would likely go up because of the investment, Commissioner Walt Benson pointed out, but other investments may come into the area because of the project. At present the land holds a few old mobile homes and the project could catapult development, said Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada.
In August, the county approved an industrial revenue bond inducement request for a similar energy storage project from Oso Negro to construct an energy storage system by the West Mesa substation, at 7301 La Morada Place. While the introduction of the IRB was approved, like the Sun Lasso project, the Oso Negro IRB ordinance still needs to be brought back for final adoption.
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