New Mexico State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard announced on Tuesday the first community solar project that will be located on state trust lands. 

Affordable Solar placed the highest and best bid on a lease on state trust lands at a public auction on Sept. 11. The solar developer plans to build a 5 megawatt solar array on nearly 80 acres in Valencia County. This project will be able to power about 1,000 homes.

Affordable Solar is one of the developers selected to build community solar within the Public Service Company of New Mexico’s service territory. PNM customers will be able to subscribe to receive clean energy from community solar arrays like the one from Affordable Solar. There are also projects being built in El Paso Electric and Southwestern Public Service Company’s territories. These projects could particularly help people who may not otherwise have access to renewable power, such as those who live in multi-family housing or who rent homes.

The Affordable Solar project will also benefit public schools by generating about $2.7 million over the lifetime of the lease. The majority of the revenue from leases on state trust lands goes to trust beneficiaries like public schools, universities and hospitals.

While this is the first community solar project awarded a lease on state trust land, the State Land Office says it will not be the last. The office plans to hold 10 more community solar auctions in the upcoming months.

Since she took office, Garcia Richard has focused on diversifying income sources on state trust land, which has historically been dominated by the oil and gas industry and livestock grazing. One way she has done this is by creating the Office of Renewable Energy within the State Land Office’s Commercial Resources Division. The Office of Renewable Energy was created with the goal of tripling the renewable energy leasing and production on state trust land, which it has already surpassed. According to the State Land Office, renewable energy on state lands has increased more than six fold since the creation of the Office of Renewable Energy—from 400 megawatts when Garcia Richard took office to approximately 2,510 megawatts of wind and solar projects under lease.

“This is a historic moment in New Mexico’s renewable energy journey. Community solar projects like these bring clean energy directly to the people at an affordable rate. It’s more proof that state lands can be utilized to help communities across New Mexico meet their needs. In a state radiating so much solar energy, everyone should be able to reap the economic and environmental benefits of switching to renewables,” Garcia Richard said in a press release. “I’ve made it a goal of mine from day one to expand renewable energy on state lands, which has the dual benefit of meeting the climate crisis head on by providing more sustainable energy sources while creating new, long-term revenue streams for New Mexico’s schools. I’m excited to say we will be pursuing many more community solar projects on state lands as we continue looking for ways to expand the state’s renewables footprint.”