NEW LAS cruces power substation set for construction

After several years of planning, a new 24-kilovolt substation may be seeing construction later this year in Las Cruces.

To be built on just under 4 acres on the southeast side of the city, the facility will belong to El Paso Electric, which has said that the station is needed to keep up with a growing consumer demand.

The station will be built off  Soledad Canyon Road in the Talavera neighborhood.

Residents in that neighborhood, where house prices range between $350,000 to more than $1.5 million, have expressed their opposition to the project, saying the facility will block views of the nearby Organ Mountains.

Despite those objections, the $5.5 million project has won the approval of the Las Cruces district of the Bureau of Land Management, which said it complies with the agency's management plan guidelines.  

El Paso Electric officials say the project, which will also include just over two miles of distribution lines, along with the upgrading of ten miles of existing lines, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2021.

By Garry Boulard

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