Tri-State, DE Shaw sign PPA for 25-MW New Mexico solar project

Wholesale power supplier Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association Inc has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with DE Shaw Renewable Investments LLC (DESRI), whereby the utility will buy the output of the planned 25-MW Alta Luna solar project in New Mexico.

The solar farm will be built in Luna county and is expected to start operations in December 2016, Tri-State said on Monday. It will consist of more than 108,000 photovoltaic (PV) panels mounted on single-axis trackers. The project was developed by Denver-based TurningPoint Energy and then sold to an affiliate of DESRI in partnership with San Francisco-based solar company Bright Plain Renewable Energy LLC. DESRI is part of the DE Shaw group.

Tri-State, which is owned by 44 member electric cooperatives and public power districts in Colorado, Nebraska, New Mexico and Wyoming, said this is the third utility-scale renewables project it has announced this year. Last year, 24% of the energy delivered to its cooperative members was from renewable resources.

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