Convalt plans $5 billion solar manufacturing campus in Gallup

Convalt Energy says its planned Gallup solar manufacturing campus could bring about 900 permanent jobs and more than 1,000 construction jobs to McKinley County, but the promised payoff still depends on a long approval track. The company signed a binding purchase and sale agreement June 16 with Gallup Land Partners for an advanced manufacturing site that could draw as much as $5 billion in total investment across all phases.

The campus is designed to produce solar cells, solar modules and solar glass, with up to 1 gigawatt of behind-the-meter power generation. Convalt says it will use high-performance heterojunction technology and a team that includes former professionals from Switzerland-based Meyer Burger as it pushes New Mexico toward becoming its U.S. headquarters for manufacturing operations.

Gallup Land Partners says it controls about 25,000 acres near Gallup, including the 2,500-acre Gallup Energy Logistics Park, a rail-served industrial park with a 365-acre BNSF-certified parcel. The site sits at Interstate 40 and U.S. Highway 491 and benefits from the so-called 11-hour rule for freight moving from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Gallup Land Partners says it has invested heavily in Gallup and McKinley County since 2013.

City documents show Gallup and Gallup Land Partners had already been laying groundwork before the Convalt deal, with a pre-annexation agreement dated May 29, 2024, and a supplemental annexation agreement dated Dec. 10, 2024. Those documents say development is expected to span decades and could widen the tax base, add utilities customers, expand employment and open more affordable housing opportunities.

For McKinley County, where unemployment has remained elevated and recent estimates have put the rate around the mid-6% range while median income trails state and national levels, the scale of the project stands out. But the real test now is whether Convalt can move through planning commission, city, county and state approvals, secure permits and keep construction moving through 2028. Convalt also signed a workers' rights agreement with the United Steelworkers in August 2024, signaling that labor expectations will be part of the story as the project advances.