The Kit Carson Electric Cooperative — at the vanguard of commercial renewable energy production for 15 years — recently announced it will receive $231 million in federal funding to develop green hydrogen-driven power generation and battery storage.
The grant amounts to the total estimated funding requirement for the Questa Green Hydrogen Project, first proposed in 2022. The project had been in the running for a grant of $95 million from the same federal program that awarded the higher amount.
Bobby Ortega, chair of the electric cooperative's board of trustees, said in a statement the grant is "among the most significant milestones in the co-op’s history," and "will bring to fruition the first green hydrogen project of this type done by an electric cooperative in the nation."
New Mexico's congressional delegates touted the award as a victory for economic development — particularly in the village of Questa, where the first hydrogen production and storage facility is proposed — and in the fight to reduce carbon emissions that contribute to climate change.
"When the Mayor of Questa first told me about this clean hydrogen project, I knew I would do whatever I could to help get it off the ground," U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández said in a statement.
Combined with a $23 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to construct solar arrays and battery storage micro-grids, the green hydrogen funding will bolster wildfire risk mitigation efforts, improve the electrical system's resilience and reduce Kit Carson's overall power costs for its members.
"Green hydrogen is, in the end, really a long-duration battery," Luis Reyes, Kit Carson CEO, told The Taos News. "Really we're getting into the long duration battery and energy storage so that we can isolate ourselves during extreme weather [or] fires, and maybe self-generate when the cost of power on the market is high. It just gives us a lot of opportunity to continue to have more local control over electricity."
The co-op produces 100% of its customers' daytime electricity from carbon-free solar energy, and will use the new funds to develop 104 megawatts of power derived from 100% renewable resources. Currently, it operates 42 megawatts of distributed solar resources and 16.25 megawatts of battery storage across its service territory.
The green hydrogen power generation and storage facilities — so far one is planned as a "hub" in Questa and another cell could be located just southwest of Taos — are expected to power 25,000 homes while reducing "pollution by 98,000 tons each year, the equivalent to over 20,700 gasoline-powered vehicles annually," according to a news release. The company estimates as many as 350 local jobs will be created during the construction of the project.
"This $231 million investment in Kit Carson Electric Cooperative's green hydrogen project is a shining example of how New Mexico is leading the way toward a cleaner, more sustainable energy future for our enchanted economy," Leger Fernández said in a statement. "By creating hundreds of good-paying jobs, lowering energy costs, and cutting harmful emissions, this project will empower Northern New Mexico's communities while making sure we leave a healthier planet for our children and grandchildren."
The grant is administered by the U.S. Rural Utilities Service under the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Empowering Rural America Program, to which Kit Carson had been in the process of applying for the $95 million grant. The funds are derived from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, a Biden-era infrastructure package that the incoming Trump administration has threatened to roll back due to the prevalence of clean energy projects and other spending.
Reyes said the state's congressional delegation has worked tirelessly to get the IRA funds obligated so they cannot be clawed back.
"We believe, because of the work we've done to get it obligated, that they can't take it," he said, adding, despite the Trump administration's stated opposition to renewable energy, a lot of wind-energy projects are being funded in Republican-dominated states.
"There's no reason to take away something that the members want and is contracted," he said. "Now it's a real project with real money."
Reyes said Kit Carson will hold community engagement meetings and sit down with Chevron, which may supply reclaimed wastewater from the shuttered Questa molybdenum mine and Superfund site with which to make hydrogen, to discuss next steps.
This story first appeared in The Taos News, a sister publication of The Santa Fe New Mexican.
