Heinrich, Luján, Vasquez Welcome Infrastructure Law Investment in Southline Transmission Project in Southern New Mexico
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the co-founder and co-chair of the Electrification Caucus, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) welcomed the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) announcement that its Grid Deployment Office (GDO) is investing $1.5 billion for five electric transmission projects— including the Southline Transmission Project in southern New Mexico.
The funding will come from the Grid Deployment Office’s (GDO) Transmission Facilitation Program (TFP), a revolving fund program established by the Infrastructure Law that Heinrich, Luján, and Democrats in the New Mexico Congressional Delegation championed into law. The TFP helps overcome the financial hurdles facing transmission development through a number of innovative financing mechanisms.
“The investments that we unlocked through our Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act are solidifying New Mexico’s leadership in building a cleaner, healthier, and more affordable energy future,” said Heinrich. “High-voltage transmission projects like Southline will be the backbone of our clean energy transition, delivering carbon-free power generated in New Mexico to market. They will also create high-quality careers that New Mexicans can build their families around, in their home communities. To get more transmission projects like Southline and SunZia built faster so we can connect more large-scale clean energy and storage projects onto the grid, it’s critical that Congress pass transmission permitting reform. I will continue pressing leaders from both parties to pass legislation to get that done.”
“Investing in transmission projects is critical to deliver reliable, affordable, clean energy to communities across New Mexico,” said Luján. “This investment in the second phase of the transformative Southline project will help boost our power grid, bring good-paying clean energy jobs to our state, and lower energy costs for New Mexicans and residents in the Southwest. I’m proud to have helped secure this federal investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and I will continue to unlock federal resources to advance clean energy projects across our state.”
“From my first day in office, I have worked to support generational projects like Southline that realize New Mexico’s potential to help power our clean energy future. This investment from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will connect high voltage transmission from Las Cruces through Hidalgo County, opening up incredible potential for renewable energy development in our district,” said Vasquez. “I will always work to bring transformational investments to our district that help provide good, high paying jobs for our rural communities.”
With this funding, Southline will construct the second phase of its project: a new 108-mile, 345 kV high-voltage alternating current line that will deliver 1,000 MW of new, bidirectional capacity between Hidalgo County, New Mexico and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Heinrich previously welcomed DOE funding for the first phase of the Southline Project. Southline Phase 2 will add much-needed transmission capacity across the American Southwest, which is grappling with extensive power demands driven by residential, commercial, and industrial activity.
In August, Heinrich, Luján, and Vasquez also welcomed $1.8 million from DOE for the City of Lordsburg. As a community hosting the Southline Transmission Project, the City will launch the Lordsburg Revitalization Project, a comprehensive investment to renovate downtown Lordsburg and bolster economic development; create opportunities for small businesses; and catalyze job growth. This grant was made possible through the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Democrats in the N.M. Delegation, and is funded through DOE’s Transmission Siting and Economic Development Grant Program, a new initiative designed to overcome state and local challenges to expanding transmission capacity while also supporting communities along major new and upgraded lines.
Background on Heinrich’s Leadership on Transmission Infrastructure:
Heinrich has long led efforts to improve and expand the capacity of our nation’s transmission infrastructure, which is urgently needed for reliability, affordability, and clean electricity. He recently welcomed the announcement that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) heeded his calls to finalize a strong transmission planning and cost allocation rule.
In this Congress, Heinrich is leading major legislation to strengthen electric reliability by improving the way that we permit, plan, and pay for transmission infrastructure — dubbing these bills as the “three Ps of transmission.”
In July, Heinrich voted to advance the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The bill includes The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 includes a number of provisions that Heinrich has championed, including his interregional transmission planning bill, provisions from his permitting bill, the FASTER Act, and his bipartisan Geothermal Energy Optimization (GEO) Act, which puts geothermal projects on an equal footing with oil and gas projects on public land and will help accelerate the adoption of geothermal energy nationwide.
In May, Heinrich welcomed the White House’s announcement of a new Federal-State Initiative to Bolster America’s Power Grid to accelerate improvements to the electric transmission and distribution network, which are critical to meeting the country’s needs for affordable, clean, reliable, and resilient power. The new federal-state initiative brings together commitments from 21 leading states, including New Mexico, to meet the shared challenges and opportunities of increased load growth, a rapidly changing energy landscape, aging infrastructure, and new grid-enhancing technologies – while delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy to consumers.
In April, Heinrich welcomed U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to New Mexico to highlight how investments from recent landmark legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act are creating a clean energy manufacturing renaissance in communities like Albuquerque and Belén, N.M.
In 2023, Heinrich delivered a keynote address at an advanced energy conference to lay out his vision to position New Mexico at the center of the nation's clean energy future. In the speech, Heinrich pointed to his work to accelerate the clean energy transition through legislation and federal investments he has secured. He also published an op-ed in the Denver Post emphasizing the need for more transmission lines to achieve our ambitious climate goals.
Heinrich also recently celebrated the groundbreaking of the new SunZia Transmission Line, the largest renewable energy project in America, which he worked for over a decade to advance. When completed, the SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind projects will become the largest renewable energy infrastructure project in U.S. history, transporting up to 3,500 megawatts of energy from New Mexico to markets in Arizona and California. The project is expected to create over 2,000 jobs during construction and support over 100 permanent jobs once online.
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