SolarRisk Tracker / Explore / NM / Los Alamos

Los Alamos County, NM — Solar Development Risk Assessment

Local solar ordinance barriers, board sentiment, and utility policies that affect development timelines and risk.

50.9
Risk Grade
Fair
Smallest NM county by area (~109 sq mi); Los Alamos seat dominated by LANL/DOE federal complex; essentially no private utility-scale solar land — county is LANL, National Forest, and dense residential/research community; C-grade reflects high compliance burden from dense government community, moderate saturation of viable sites (virtually none), and stable but non-improvable trajectory — land constraint is absolute regardless of politics; LANL conducts its own energy procurement separately
Assessment Snapshot
Population
19369
State Rank
#22
Compliance
55%
Trajectory
45

Moratorium Status

✓ No Active Moratorium
No specific moratorium information available.

Ordinance & Regulations

Setback Requirements
300 ft from property lines; 500 ft from occupied structures; LANL/DOE land not subject to county zoning
Zoning Mechanism
Special Use Permit (SUP) — Los Alamos County Council
Acreage Caps
None established
Spacing Rules
None established
Size Restrictions
None established

Board Sentiment & Political Risk

Sentiment Analysis
Neutral — LANL/government community intellectually supportive of clean energy but utility-scale solar is essentially impossible from land availability alone; county council would likely be permissive but there is simply no viable private land; LANL manages its own energy procurement through DOE/NNSA channels
Basis for Assessment
Los Alamos County Council; Los Alamos Reporter; PNM; LANL Office of Sustainability; DOE/NNSA
Political Risk Factors
Stable
Board Members
Los Alamos County Council (7 members) — losalamosnm.us

Grid, Utilities & State Context

Grid Operator
WECC / PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico)
Utilities
PNM (Public Service Company of New Mexico)
State Permitting Process
County zoning authority; no state solar preemption; conditional use or special use permit (CUP/SUP) required for utility-scale solar (>1 MW); NM model solar ordinance framework available but adoption varies by county; decommissioning bond typically required; NM Solar Rights Act (1978, amended) protects residential solar access but does not preempt local large-project zoning
State Incentives
Federal ITC eligible; NM Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (REPTC); NM Energy Transition Act (2019) zero-carbon mandate driving procurement; PNM and Xcel NM renewable procurement programs; NM Solar Market Development Tax Credit (residential); USDA REAP eligible for rural counties

Development Activity

Active/Completed Projects
None known
Denied/Withdrawn Projects
None known

Explore the Full Tracker

View risk assessments for all 3,100+ US counties, compare states, and download detailed ordinance data for your solar development pipeline.

Launch SolarRisk Tracker

Last verified: 2026-04-02 | SolarRisk Tracker | Data sources: Government records, utility filings, public meeting minutes