April 2, 2021
New Mexico’s largest electric utility is planning to reduce its baseload power while increasing power generated by renewable sources and possibly adding natural gas generation with turbines capable of producing power from hydrogen.
Baseload generation provides a relatively steady supply of power. Currently, Public Service Company of New Mexico, or PNM, relies on coal-fired power plants and a nuclear generating station to provide baseload power.
The company filed a 2020 integrated resource plan with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission in January and is awaiting approval includes exiting coal in 2024 and reducing its capacity in Palo Verde Generating Station, which provides nuclear power.
AZTEC Starting in 2023, one of the two remaining units at the Four Corners Power Plant will only operate from June to October when customer demand is the highest in the southwest.
Arizona Public Service Company announced this change in a press release on March 12. The other unit will continue generating electricity year-round.
The press release states that moving to seasonal operations will make the power plant a more flexible resource and support the increase in clean energy. It states that this will compensate for the intermittent output of renewable resources.
The change comes through an agreement between the plant owners, APS, Public Service Company of New Mexico, Navajo Transitional Energy Company and Tucson Electric Power.
AZTEC More than half of San Juan Mine s approximately 200 workers will lose their jobs this summer. These layoffs come as funding from the Energy Transition Act remains in litigation and hopes are beginning to fade for some about a carbon capture project at the generating station it serves.
The San Juan Mine has one customer, the San Juan Generating Station. The power plant s majority owner Public Service Company of New Mexico intends to switch to using stockpiled coal this summer as it prepares to end power production at the facility in 2022.
Meanwhile, the City of Farmington and its partner Enchant Energy are pushing forward with an effort to take ownership of the full power plant and retrofit it with carbon capture technology. This would allow it to remain operating into the future, thus saving jobs at both the mine and the power plant.
As San Juan Mine braces for layoffs, assistance is uncertain and carbon capture hopes fade abqjournal.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abqjournal.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Sunniest City in Texas is Expanding … Natural Gas Production
After New Mexico rejected a proposal for the El Paso power plant, the Biden administration could be El Paso’s last line of defense.
Advocates are pushing for El Paso Electric to invest heavily in solar power, an abundant clean energy resource in the region, which is one of the sunniest in the country. Courtesy of El Paso Electric
After New Mexico rejected a proposal for the El Paso power plant, the Biden administration could be El Paso’s last line of defense.
Advocates are pushing for El Paso Electric to invest heavily in solar power, an abundant clean energy resource in the region, which is one of the sunniest in the country. Courtesy of El Paso Electric