The AES Corporation is an American utility and power generation company. It owns and operates power plants, which it uses to generate and sell electricity to end users and intermediaries like utilities and industrial facilities. AES is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, and is one of the world’s leading power companies, generating and distributing electric power in 15 countries and employing 10,500 people worldwide. AES Corporation is a global Fortune 500 power company. – Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AES_Corporation
AES currently carries a high level of debt, which can be a concern for investors and lenders alike.” And they “could face significant fines, litigation or reputational damage” but they believe “the company’s diversified portfolio of assets and geographical spread could help it withstand the impact of any localized economic or political disruption.” – SWOT Analysis: https://dcf.fm/blogs/blog/aes-swot-analysis
The AES Corporation has applied to the Santa Fe County for a permit to build the Rancho Viejo Solar Project, a Utility-Scale solar and battery facility encompassing 688 – 1,000 acres (over one square mile). They plan to include 205,712 solar panels, and some 38, 40-foot battery containers housing over 570,000 lithium-ion battery cells to store over 141 megawatts of power. (We believe this is one of the largest battery facilities proposed so far in the state of New Mexico.) They also intend to erect a 2.3 mile high voltage line (115kV) supported by 70 foot tall monopoles to a new 2-acre substation to connect into the PNM grid. According to their permit request, they intend to have 4 technicians on site during business hours only. A recent Energy Storage News article dispels the myth that BESS facilities can operate without on-site staff due to the inherent safety risks such as thermal events that must be managed by full time trained technicians 24/7. https://www.energy-storage.news/the-truth-about-large-scale-battery-storage-om/
– For information about the hazards and concerns with this project, see our FAQ.
In our direct meetings with both county and state officials, it was clear that AES had not informed them of their intended business plan. All those officials were under the impression that the “need” for these batteries was to just store the power from the solar panels, not to pull and push power on and off the PNM grid to maximize AES’ profits.
This revelation raised a number of concerns:
- AES had not been fully honest or forthcoming with the county or state about their reasons for wanting this facility.
- If the real value to AES was not the solar generation but a massive battery facility, which presumably they could even expand over time, was this really a renewable energy project at all? Or was it instead a battery project with solar generation tacked on to make it appear environmentally ‘positive’ to garner official and public support? A technique known as “green washing”.
- Shortly after we brought this information to the county staff who are charged with reviewing AES’ application, AES sued the county for a Temporary Restraining Order, forbidding the county from sharing any negative information such as the percent of likelihood that thermal runaway would occur or the specific toxic gases that would be released by the battery cells they intend to use, claiming that such information were now “trade secrets”, including where they intended to site this facility.
- If AES’ goals for this project were transparent, why would they need a court order to prevent the public from knowing what exactly they intended to build?
Things you need to know about AES (a partial list):
- As of June 2025, AES has been fined $40.1 million including $26.6 million in environmental violations including air and water pollution and over $6.3 million in energy market violations for not producing the level of power to the grid they said they would. More details at the Violation Tracker: https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/aes-corp
- There have been 3 lithium-ion battery fires at AES owned or designed facilities and a fourth fire at a facility they were involved in through a subsidiary, called Fluence.
In April 2019 an AES battery storage facility in Surprise, Arizona caught fire and subsequently exploded which seriously injured several firefighters.
Again in April, in 2022 another AES battery storage facility caught fire in Chandler Arizona. Both of those facilities were a fraction of the size of the one they are proposing here in Santa Fe County. (AZ: 2.6 MW and 10 MW). Here in Santa Fe County they are planning a 48MW/192 MWh battery storage facility consisting of 38 forty foot containers filled with 570,000 lithium-ion battery cells. Both of those Arizona battery facilities were sited in Industrial Zones—not residential area- and the surrounding industrial facilities were evacuated as a result of the toxic smoke during those fires.
AES’ third fire occurred on September 5, 2024 in Escondido CA, at a facility AES designed and built for SDG&E, the owner of the facility. This facility, a 30 MW facility, is also a smaller facility than the planned Rancho Viejo Solar Project (RVSP), and also located in an industrial zone. It consists of 24 forty foot containers utilizing Lithium-ion NMC battery cells, and is managed by Fluence, a joint venture company owned by AES and Siemens. Fluence also managed AES’ Surprise and Chandler, Arizona facilities where the fires occurred.
Fluence was also the Engineering Contractor for the Moss Landing, Phase 1 facility that caught fire on January 16, 2025 in Moss Landing, CA resulting in the worst lithium-ion battery fire to date with heavy metals contamination of the surrounding area and more than 1,275 people reporting multiple health symptoms after the fire which as lithium-ion battery fires often do, reignited on February 18, 2025.To research these and other battery failures visit the “BESS Failure Event Database”: https://storagewiki.epri.com/index.php/BESS_Failure_Incident_Database
- In 2023 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) “fined independent power producer AES $6 million for failing to fulfill power obligations related to eight of the company’s 12 generating units operating in Southern California.” –Power Engineering News report: https://www.rtoinsider.com/59593-ferc-fines-aes-caiso-violations/
- In June 2023 AES Indiana (a public utility company) asked for another rate increase. Citizens Action Coalition in Indiana reports, “In March 2020, the Indiana Regulatory Commission approved AES’s request to hike customer bills by $1.2 BILLION to upgrade its transmission and distribution grid, setting the stage for seven straight years of rate increases to pay for improvements. Those increases are in addition to this new request. And now there are concerns and questions about AES’s quality of service when in late June and early July 2023, power to 80,000 AES customers was knocked out , and nearly 4,000 of those customers were without power for 5 whole days.” — So when AES tells us that the Rancho Viejo Project will provide Santa Fe with “fixed” electric rates, why should we believe them?
Read about AES’ rate hikes over seven straight years: https://www.citact.org/aes-45911 - A report in 2009 of a lawsuit that was filed in Delaware charging VA-based AES Corp. with illegally dumping 160 million pounds of toxic ash waste leading to serious health problems for nearby residents. – Facing South https://www.facingsouth.org/2009/11/lawsuit-accuses-virginia-power-company-of-poisoning-dominican-community-with-toxic-coal-ash.
- In 2001, the FERC “accused units of Williams and AES Corp. of withholding electricity from two California power plants during April-May 2000 and running more profitable plants instead.” They ordered “Williams Energy Marketing & Trading Co. and AES Southland to explain why they shouldn’t return $10 million in profits from the alleged scheme…” The commission said “it also has begun an investigation into the operation, maintenance, and sales of power from the same units for other periods in 2000 and 2001, and warned it will release certain nonpublic information in 5 days, unless the companies can justify the need for continued confidentiality.”
– Power Engineering News: https://www.power-eng.com/news/ferc-accuses-williams-and-aes-of-withholding-power/
WHAT THEY SAY, AND WHAT THEY DO
AES claims, “Safety First… Safety is at the core of everything we do.”
AES’ Value Guide: https://www.aes.com/sites/default/files/2021-03/Values%20guide-eng.pdf
Yet, their 2024 Annual Report to investors tells another story:
“Power generation involves hazardous activities… hazards such as fire, explosion, collapse and machinery failure, are inherent risks in our operations which may occur as a result of inadequate internal processes, technological flaws, human error or actions of third parties or other external events. The control and management of these risks…may not prevent the occurrence and impact of these risks.
In addition our battery storage operations also involve risks… lithium-ion batteries can rapidly release the energy they contain by venting smoke and flames in a manner that can ignite nearby materials as well as other lithium-ion batteries…
The hazards described above, along with other safety hazards associated with our operations, can cause significant personal injury or loss of life, severe damage to and destruction of property, plant and equipment, contamination of, or damage to, the environment and suspension of operations. The occurrence of any one of these events may result in our being named as a defendant in lawsuits asserting claims for substantial damages, environment cleanup costs, personal injury and fines and/or penalties.”
Quoted from AES 2024 annual report, page 70: https://www.aes.com/sites/aesvault.com/files/2025-03/AES-Corp-2024-Annual-Report-10-K-FINAL-03-19-2025.pdf
While we appreciate AES moving into renewable energies, we are seriously concerned by their history, lack of transparency and concern for the effect their projects have on local communities. No matter what they say, our safety does not seem to be their top priority!
Bottom line, AES and this project are
the wrong fit for Santa Fe!
For more about AES and the Rancho Viejo Solar Project see our FAQ.