The 200 MWac-solar project highlights the latest milestone to bring renewable energy to rural cooperative members.
Origis Energy and Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association have confirmed Escalante Solar has reached commercial operation.
Built on the site of the former 253-MWac, coal-fired Escalante Station near Grants, New Mexico, which was retired in 2020, the solar project began generating carbon-free electricity in June 1, 2024.
“Escalante Solar helps all our members get to 50% clean energy used in 2025, while meeting the requirements of New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act five years ahead of schedule,” said Duane Highley, CEO, Tri-State.
“We thank Origis Energy for their work to successfully develop Escalante Solar and we deeply appreciate their engagement with the local community.”
Guy Vanderhaegen, Executive Chairman, Origis Energy, said: “Every time a project is completed and begins commercial operation, that is cause to celebrate.
“We are especially delighted to bring affordable, reliable, renewable electricity to the members of Tri-State – which helps meet Tri-State’s decarbonization goals.”
Escalante Solar is now delivering 200 MWac of clean solar generation, enough power to serve an estimated 63,000 homes, to Tri-State’s members, including 11 electric cooperative members in New Mexico, under a power purchase agreement with Origis Energy.
The project was announced in 2020 as part of Tri-State’s landmark Responsible Energy Plan and is located in McKinley County, New Mexico – it is the largest solar project in the Tri-State generation portfolio.
Tri-State and Origis Energy worked with local stakeholders on the success and economic development related to the project.
Gridworks, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, provided construction services for the project, employing an estimated 400 people during that time.
Array Technologies, also headquartered in Albuquerque, provided the solar tracking system.
“New Mexico communities have a long, proud history of powering our state and the rest of our country. This new solar project builds on that tradition – connecting more families across our state to clean, low-cost electricity,” said US Senator Marin Heinrich (D-New Mexico).
“I look forward to continuing the work to grow more economic development opportunities so that all working people in this region can access high-quality careers they can build and support their families with.”
Origis Energy
Miami-based Origis Energy is one of America’s leading renewable energy and decarbonization solution platforms deploying a wide range of sustainable solutions for grid and distributed power generation, clean hydrogen and long-term operation of solar, energy storage and clean hydrogen plants across the USA.
Tri-State is a wholesale power supply cooperative, operating on a not-for-profit basis, with 45 members, including 42 utility electric distribution cooperative and public power district members in four states that together deliver reliable, affordable and responsible power to more than a million electricity consumers across nearly 200,000 square miles of the West.
