Belen city council votes yes to new permit for solar panel farm
BELEN, N.M. (KRQE) – It’s considered the hub city for renewable energy in the southwest. Belen city councilors voted to continue that momentum, allowing a major energy company to construct another solar farm on 395 acres.
There are thousands of undeveloped acres of land that Belen city councilors want to see filled up. “For a long time, Belen has looked to try to find ways to grow, we always fall just a little bit short,” said Mayor Robert Noblin during a city council meeting Monday. A proposed project for a major solar farm located west of I-25 between Los Lunas and Belen.
It was presented before Belen’s city council for a special use permit with promises of 250 construction jobs for locals and economic growth. “We had an economic impact study done, and for GDP, roughly $16.9 million would come to the city of Belen,” said Ashley Sgaliardich, Project Director, NextEra Energy Resources.
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This latest development, called “The Starlight Energy Center,” will be neighboring an already existing solar panel farm managed by the company NextEra Energy Resources. City councilors agreed during Monday’s meeting that the land needs to be used. “It’s been a long time [and] nothing’s come. I understand several years ago, we had a development that was going to go out there, and it just went away,” said City Councilor Steven Holdman.
While the meeting was open to the public, no one came up for comment, but one resident KRQE spoke to on Saturday said the existing panels are an eyesore. “It is because if you look at it before the solar panels, Los Lunas hill was just farmland, you know it was a hill now, walk there, all you just see is solar panels and just metal stuff and like that,” said Rayven Garcia. The company said their next steps are to apply for an industrial revenue bond, which helps finance the project.
Construction is expected to start this December and be completed by December 2026.
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