New Mexico county OKs up to $942 million of bonds for solar project

New Mexico’s Bernalillo County Board of Commissioners approved its biggest-ever issuance of industrial revenue bonds on Tuesday with an up to $942 million conduit deal for a solar cell manufacturing facility.

Proceeds from the taxable debt will help finance an 834,000-square-foot facility in the Mesa del Sol industrial development area for Ebon Solar that officials said will create 911 jobs. 

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the project in August.

“We have succeeded in making New Mexico a global center for advanced energy manufacturing,” she said in a statement. “Ebon Solar joins other leading companies in embracing New Mexico’s commitment to renewable energy, its talented, dedicated workforce, and the opportunities we provide for job training and tuition-free college.”

The 30-year bonds will be sold in a private placement that is expected to close before the end of the year, according to Marcos Gonzales, Bernalillo County’s executive development officer. 

Under its industrial revenue bond program, the county provides projects with abatements of property taxes on land, buildings, and equipment, as well as on gross receipts and compensating taxes on equipment purchases. Abatements for Ebon Solar, which is headquartered in Singapore, are estimated at $50 million over 30 years, Gonzales said.

The project will also receive Local Economic Development Act funding of $10 million from the New Mexico Economic Development Department and $1 million from Albuquerque, according to the county.

The facility will manufacture photovoltaic cells, which are semiconductor devices that convert light energy into electrical energy.

Last November, Albuquerque’s city council approved up to $2.4 billion of taxable IRBs for a Maxeon Solar Technologies solar cell and panel manufacturing plant also to be built in the Mesa del Sol area. The debt was to be privately placed with an affiliate of the Singapore-based company, according to the bond ordinance.