PNM: Summertime could include rotating outages
Jan. 29—A Public Service Company of New Mexico executive acknowledged Friday the peak summer months will challenge the company's ability to generate enough electricity.
Tom Fallgren, vice president for energy generation with PNM, said he currently has no reserve margin for July and August, adding temporary outages aren't out of the question.
"We obviously have a significant concern," Fallgren said in an interview Friday afternoon.
Fallgren said PNM has plans for "brownouts" that typically involve rotating customer outages for one to four hours — usually called rolling blackouts.
PNM, an investor-owned company, is the state's largest energy provider, supplying electricity to about 525,000 residential and business customers in many parts of the state.
Fallgren said he is "looking at every option" to find additional power. A filing with the Public Regulation Commission this week suggested PNM may consider keeping the coal-fueled San Juan Generating Station open beyond its June closing date.
PNM said in the document it "continues to evaluate all possible options for resolving the summer 2022 resource deficiencies including a temporary extension of up to three months operation" of the San Juan plant.
Spokesman Ray Sandoval said the company faces a supply chain crisis that has delayed the solar energy projects that were supposed to provide replacement energy. Sandoval said climate change also throws unexpected obstacles into the scenario.
PNM also points to the fact that its plan for replacement energy wasn't accepted by the commission in 2020. PNM had hoped to use some natural gas as replacement power, but that wasn't permitted.
"We know the summer's going to be kind of difficult," Sandoval said Friday. "Our priority is going to be, number one, to make sure people have reliable electricity."
PRC chairman Joseph Maestas of Santa Fe said the commission is concerned, "especially as the summer peak is looming." The summer peak refers to the demand for electricity from June through September.
"And the prospect of brownouts and blackouts is not good, and we have to do everything we can to avoid that," Maestas said Friday.
PNM for months has suggested summer could be tough. Contractors have warned several solar power projects will not be finished in time because of supply chain issues.
Fallgren said he still has a few months to find energy on markets, from other companies and in other ways, although he has explored those options.
"We haven't given up on that," he said. "Certainly every day I'm calling people, talking with people, pursuing people" to free up energy for PNM.
