Solar canopies, EV chargers coming to Alameda Open Space parking lot

Solar canopies are going up over part of the Alameda Open Space parking lot near Alameda and Rio Grande boulevards NW, where the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority says the project should be finished by the end of September. The site will add shaded parking and two free EV charging stations, available first-come, first-served, while some parking spaces may be temporarily unavailable during construction; the Water Authority says alternative parking remains nearby and trail access points will stay open.

The location matters because the solar array is tied directly to the Water Authority’s raw-water pump station, which pumps San Juan-Chama water from the Rio Grande uphill to a treatment plant. The utility says the project should offset about 35% of the electricity used at that nearby facility, while earlier city planning materials put the figure at roughly 36% of raw-water pump-station electric use. For a water utility that says it is New Mexico’s largest and operates on more than $170 million a year, that kind of savings is more than a climate gesture; it is a ratepayer issue as well as a land-use decision.

The project has been in the public pipeline for years. The City of Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission approved the solar site plan on Sept. 15, 2022, and later approved the related Alameda Open Space trailhead improvements on Nov. 17, 2022 for the roughly 17-acre site between Alameda Boulevard NW, Rio Grande Boulevard NW and the Rio Grande. Those trailhead plans called for better circulation along the Paseo del Bosque Trail, shaded picnic tables, a new overlook platform and improved wayfinding. City materials also say two large elm trees at the southwest trail entrance will be removed because they are diseased, with removed vegetation replaced at a higher ratio than what is taken out.

Somos Solar has been selected as the contractor and solar provider. Under the arrangement, Somos Solar will purchase and install the solar generation equipment and build the solar-covered parking canopies, then the Water Authority will buy the energy from the facility once it is complete. That structure turns Alameda Open Space into more than a shaded trailhead: it is a cross-jurisdictional test of whether public land can deliver parking, visitor comfort and a measurable utility-cost offset in the same footprint.