A 170 MW solar and 80 MW battery storage project has broken ground on tribal lands in northwest New Mexico, squeaking through a rapidly tightening federal regulatory environment that has halted other renewable developments across the United States.
Developed by D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments (DESRI), the Foxtail Flats Solar project represents the first phase of a broader planned development footprint capable of hosting up to 350 MW of solar and 350 MW of energy storage, which includes the 100 MW Four Mile Mesa co-located array. While the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is headquartered in Colorado, the reservation itself spans state lines, placing this specific project site just across the border in neighboring New Mexico.
While the U.S. domestic solar sector grapples with severe project backlogs, developers of the Foxtail Flats asset secured critical federal approvals just days before sweeping policy shifts upended utility-scale permitting.
The project beat a massive nationwide permitting bottleneck by finishing its federal paperwork right before Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued a new directive. That order forced all federal wind and solar approvals to go directly through the secretary’s office, adding 68 new layers of red tape.
According to analysts at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), this centralized review process acts as a functional freeze on federal land permits. SEIA estimates that roughly 36% of all planned U.S. power projects through 2030 are now at risk of cancellation or major delays because of these bureaucratic hurdles.
Foxtail Flats also locked in its investment setup before the administration killed core renewable energy tax credits under new tax legislation. Securing investor terms before the subsidies expired protected the project’s budget from the financing failures that are currently stalling similar developments.
Brownfield interconnection
The project succeeds largely because of its location in San Juan County near Farmington, New Mexico, which places it at a major regional transmission crossroads. Spanning over 5,000 acres across the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, state land, and private land, the site layout was chosen specifically to minimize impacts on sensitive natural resources, wildlife habitats, and culturally important areas.
Following the demolition of the nearby coal-fired San Juan Generating Station, the local power grid kept significant capacity to take on new electricity. To tap into this network, Foxtail Flats will interconnect to an existing substation at DESRI’s San Juan Solar 1 project roughly 5 miles to the southwest. From there, it links directly to the electric grid at the retired coal plant’s substation via an existing generation transmission line.
By utilizing this existing high-voltage network, the project gains immediate access to power markets across New Mexico, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and California. This strategic grid positioning protects the development from the lengthy interconnection lines that trap projects built in less developed areas.
Offtake
DESRI protected the project’s financial returns by securing long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) to meet the region’s growing electricity demand. New Mexico ranks in the top three states for overall solar potential, and this 170 MW installation is expected to generate enough annual electricity to power the equivalent of 60,000 households.
Los Alamos County Utilities signed a contract to buy the 170 MW of solar power and 80 MW of battery storage. This capacity directly replaces 36 MW previously generated for the county by the San Juan Generating Station before it closed in 2022, while offsetting other expiring power contracts. The rest of the generation profile will supply a new Meta data center currently under construction near Albuquerque, using the large onsite batteries to provide steady capacity for the tech company.
Beyond delivering clean electrons, the project provides direct economic support to the local community. It creates hundreds of construction jobs, helping replace the operations and maintenance positions lost when the coal plant closed. Additionally, the agreement delivers negotiated education and benefit payments to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe alongside standard land rent revenue, helping the tribe meet the goals of its local Climate Action Plan.
Construction began in summer 2025, and commercial operations are scheduled to start in fall 2026.
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