Reno company takes stake, to spearhead N.M. solar plant

Remote Energy Solutions of Reno last week entered into a partnership with Warm Springs Renewable Energy Corp. of New Mexico to push forward Warm Springs' plans for a solar power plant in south central New Mexico.

RES, which specializes in renewable energy development and management, will guide the Warm Springs project through feasibility studies and into construction, which is expected to begin in 2011. RES will act as management partner and minority owner on the project, coordinating permitting, transmission and interconnection studies, financing and other details of advancing the solar facility.

Permitting for the plant is targeted for completion by the end the year. The facility is scheduled to come online with a generation capacity of 20 megawatts, with eventual expansion to more than 80 megawatts as demand increases.

Warm Springs plans to make available initial power generated from the solar facility for use at a nearby copper, molybdenum, gold and silver mine being planned by British company Mercator Gold. Mercator Gold also would hold a 70 percent majority interest in the solar production plant.

Ann Carpenter, RES president, has been named chief operating officer for Warm Springs Renewable Energy Corp.

"This project has the potential to change the way mines look at energy consumption," Carpenter said. "With this current project, the scale of electricity savings alone for mining operations has the potential to be very significant."