PNM Plans Energy Future ; Renewables Fill In For Coal, Nuclear

By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer

Coal and nuclear power will provide less of the power coming out of Albuquerque light sockets in the future than it does today, according to a road map of the region’s electricity future.

Natural gas and renewable energy will take up much of the slack, according to the plan being developed by utility company PNM with the help of renewable energy advocates. In addition, conservation can be used to cut power demand, substituting for power plants that would otherwise need to be built to meet the needs of a growing population, according to the study.

“Energy efficiency makes a lot of sense,” said Evelin Wheeler, director of PNM’s planning effort.

PNM analysts unveiled a final draft of the road map Friday in a meeting with consumer and renewable energy advocates who helped draft the plan.

Advocatesgenerallyendorsed the plan, saying it marks a middle- ground approach to keeping costs to consumers down while also increasing New Mexico’s use of nonpolluting fuel sources.

“We’re happy with it, or with most parts of it,” said Steve Michel of Western Resource Advocates, an environmental policy group.

The report, which will go to the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission next month, marks the most detailed attempt to take into account the effect of climate change regulations on power supplies in New Mexico.

Efforts are currently under way at the regional level to restrict or curtail greenhouse gases emitted by power plants and other industrial activities. Scientists have linked those emissions to climate change, which in New Mexico could lead to deeper and more severe droughts in the future.

In addition to the regional efforts, both major-party presidential candidates have endorsed some sort of greenhouse gas restrictions, making it widely expected that utilities like PNM will face greenhouse gas restrictions in the future.

That is an issue for PNM. Coal, a major greenhouse gas emitter, currently provides 62 percent of the utility’s electricity.

No one knows yet what form the regulations will take, but the most likely scenario is some sort of tax on greenhouse gas emissions or a so-called “cap and trade” system that would have a similar effect — essentially putting a price on carbon emissions, reducing emissions by driving up costs.

That would drive up the cost of electricity from coal-fired power plants.

The PNM report found that a high carbon tax would make it more economical to bring new renewable energy like geothermal, wind and solar power on line sooner. But no matter what approach is taken to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, meeting future demand with a new coal-fired power plant did not appear to be economical, the study concluded.

“We’re very clear,” PNM’s Wheeler said. “No new coal.” Likewise, nuclear power does not look like an economical option, though the PNM analysis holds open the possibility of changing that if electricity demand in New Mexico rises faster than anticipated.

Even at the highest carbon taxes studied by the PNM analysts, continued use of existing coal-fired power plants in northwest New Mexico appears likely.

The plants are already paid for, which makes them relatively inexpensive sources of electricity, Wheeler explained. But by 2020, according to the plan, coal would provide just 49 percent of PNM’s electricity, down from today’s 62 percent.

Whatever the future mix of renewables and energy efficiency, some new natural gas power plants are likely to be part of the future power mix in New Mexico, according to the study.

Consumer and renewable energy advocates pushed PNM to consider aggressive energy conservation measures as one way to minimize the need for new power plants, said Gail Ryba of the Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy.

The study found that those measures could significantly delay the need to build the new natural gas plants contemplated to meet the need for additional power — the equivalent of a new plant big enough to provide 8 percent of PNM’s electricity by 2020.

The first wave of new renewable power could be here soon. PNM is currently looking for companies to provide new sources of renewable energy, including a major new solar plant. Formal proposals are due later this year, and PNM power system analyst Cindy Bothwell said 120 companies have said they might bid.

“We’ve gotten tremendous interest already,” Bothwell said.

(c) 2008 Albuquerque Journal. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.