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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Chevron Mining Inc., a subsidiary of oil giant Chevron Corp., announced plans Tuesday to build what company and state officials say will be the largest concentrating solar photovoltaic power plant in the nation at a tailings site in northern New Mexico.

Chevron Mining Inc. will build the 1-megawatt demonstration plant on 20 acres of the company's molybdenum mine near the village of Questa. Construction will begin in the spring and the plant should be completed by the end of the year.

Unlike a concentrating solar thermal plant, the Questa installation will use lenses to focus sunlight onto three-layer solar cells. The technology is anticipated to be twice as efficient as traditional solar panels and it would use less photovoltaic material, company officials said.

"This new technology, if it demonstrates and works well, has the potential to make a step change in the amount of energy we can get out of a solar panel," said Desmond King, president of Chevron Technology Ventures.

Building a solar facility at the mine's tailings site fits with the company's overall strategy of investing in renewable energy technologies that can help it operate with more energy and cost efficiency, King said.

The plant also will benefit Questa, where mining operations have long been the economic backbone of the community as well as an environmental liability. Activists have been critical of the mine and its tailings pile.

As part of the solar project, an evaluation of soils at various depths will be done for closure of the tailings facility at the end of mining operations.

"This makes economic and environmental sense," Gov. Bill Richardson said of the project during a news conference.

The electricity generated by the solar installation will be sold to the Kit Carson Electric Cooperative under a 20-year agreement. It will be enough electricity to power the village during the day, officials said.

Chevron had submitted a plan to build the demonstration plant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the state Environment Department and the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The project, which will cost Chevron nearly $10 million, has the support of the agencies.

The idea of using brownfields or other contaminated sites for renewable energy development is picking up steam nationally. On Tuesday, the federal government announced it would evaluate the feasibility of developing renewable energy projects on Superfund, brownfields and former landfill or mining sites.

EPA is investing more than $650,000 in the study, which will also involve scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

The federal project will look at the potential for developing wind, solar or small hydro installations at sites in California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Puerto Rico.

As for the solar project in New Mexico, Questa Mayor Malaquais Rael said it moves his community one step closer to its vision of becoming more than just a mining town.

"We're really excited that we'll be able to call ourselves a green town," he said.