- The Israeli renewables company Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd has announced that the 364-MW Atrisco has commenced initial commercial operation.
- Enlight expects Atrisco to generate revenues of USD 51 million to USD 55 million in its first full year of operation.
The Israeli renewables company Enlight Renewable Energy Ltd has announced that the 364-MW Atrisco solar farm, developed and built by its subsidiary in the US state of New Mexico, has commenced initial commercial operation.
Enlight’s largest project, Atrisco, is a complex of solar arrays and a 1.2 GWh battery energy storage system (BESS) situated outside Albuquerque. The project was delivered by Enlight’s US unit, Clenera Holdings LLC.
Enlight said the solar farm is expected to reach full commercial operations over the coming weeks, while the BESS is expected to become commercially operational before the end of 2024. The complex will supply electricity to the Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM) under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA).
The Atrisco Solar & Energy Storage project was realised at a total cost of USD 827 million (EUR 750.6m), while the total project cost net of tax equity was USD 407 million. The project brought together contractors RES Americas, which provided engineering, procurement, and construction services, and Miller Brothers, which was tasked with operations and maintenance. Runergy supplied its solar panels, Array Technologies Inc. sent the trackers, string inverters are from Sungrow, and the BESS was delivered by Tesla.
Enlight expects Atrisco to generate revenues of USD 51 million to USD 55 million in its first full year of operation. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for this period are estimated to range between USD 41 million and USD 45 million.
“Achieving the first phase of commercial operations at Atrisco is a major milestone,” said Clenera President and CEO Adam Pishl. “We have transformed a brownfield site with little use into a clean energy power plant. The low-cost, emission-free energy produced here will benefit generations of New Mexico residents and is the first of our future investments in the state.”