Feb. 27—SynerGen Solar plans to build a solar facility near Clovis that will connect to New Mexico’s grid and provide electricity to thousands of homes.

The Maryland-based company, along with the utility EPCOR USA, announced the plans for the solar energy project last week, saying that once complete, the project will produce up to 90 megawatts of electricity — enough to power an estimated 17,000 homes.

The solar project will be built on a 485-acre tract of EPCOR-owned land, about five miles south of downtown Clovis. SynerGen will design, build and operate the facility, the companies said. The 25-year agreement between the companies will allow EPCOR to receive leasing revenue during construction and after, with the additional money to go toward lowering water service costs for EPCOR’s roughly 16,500 Clovis customers. The utility also has about 3,000 customers in Edgewood, said company spokesman Matthew Atwood.

In addition, the facility will allow EPCOR to receive renewable energy credits to offset its carbon emissions from its Clovis operations.

The cost of the solar farm, expected to be operational by 2031, will surpass $100 million, said SynerGen managing member Hillel Halberstam. But he said that number is just an early estimate and the project still has some hurdles to get through, including interconnection studies and permitting reviews, before construction begins. Once those are done, the project will break ground in the next three to five years.

“New Mexico is known for its abundance of sunshine, and EPCOR is well positioned to use this resource to power our communities, reduce reliance on greenhouse gas-emitting power, and help deliver a new service to the region,” Daniel Bailet, EPCOR’s vice president of business development and general manager of New Mexico operations, said in a statement.