Electric Utility in Texas, New Mexico Becomes the First to Go Coal-Free in the Region
August 03 2016 - 11:30AM
Business Wire
El Paso Electric Celebrates Milestone,
National Environmental Organization Lauds Utility
El Paso Electric (EPE) (NYSE: EE) today celebrates a milestone
as the only utility in Texas and New Mexico to generate electricity
100 percent coal-free. By eliminating the coal generation from the
company’s portfolio and increasing its investment in utility-scale
solar, EPE is avoiding releasing more than two billion pounds of
carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is the equivalent to
taking 190,000 cars off the road or planting 20 million trees.
This announcement comes at the end of a 50-year contract and
sale of EPE’s seven percent ownership of the coal-fired generating
plant, Four Corners Generating Station, located near Farmington,
New Mexico. EPE decided that it would not extend its contract due
to the uncertainty of significant economic and environmental
impacts, and EPE’s ownership of Four Corners was sold to a
subsidiary of Pinnacle West Capital Corporation, which is also the
parent company of Arizona Public Service Company, based in Phoenix,
Arizona on July 6, 2016.
“This decision was not only the best environmental decision for
our community, but it was also beneficial financially for all of
our customers,” said El Paso Electric CEO, Mary Kipp. “El Paso
Electric has a firm commitment toward providing safe, reliable, and
clean energy that is also cost-effective, and as we analyzed our
production of electricity, we began to see the ways in which we
could make efficient use of new technologies that would be more
economically viable for our operations.”
In recent years, the use of coal has become a contentious issue
with many environmental groups which have worked together to take
action to eliminate or severely limit its use in electric power
generation. As more utilities try to do their part in reducing
harmful emissions, EPE believes that the elimination of coal
generation for our region is the right step forward.
“I congratulate El Paso Electric on ending its ownership portion
of the Four Corners coal power plant in New Mexico. While there is
still more work to be done to fully realize Texas and New Mexico’s
renewable energy potential, we know that shifting away from
carbon-polluting coal plants is one of the most important things we
can do to avoid the worst impacts of climate change, which is
already making droughts more serious and drying up the Rio Grande,”
remarked Dr. Al Armendariz, deputy regional director of the Sierra
Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign.
Since 2009, El Paso Electric has been making significant
investments in local generating facilities and in 2014, EPE doubled
its utility-scale solar. That same year, EPE was recognized by the
Solar Electric Power Association for its significant advances in
renewable energy technologies.
“We remain committed to building a portfolio that includes
renewable technologies that complement our local, quick-start,
clean-burning natural gas units,” Kipp added.
As of July 27, 2016, El Paso Electric has a generation mix
consisting of nuclear energy from Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station located near Tonopah Arizona, the nation’s largest producer
of emission-free energy; local clean-burning natural gas plants;
and a combination of ownership and power purchase agreements of
large-scale solar facilities, which includes the largest solar
facility in the state of New Mexico and the largest solar facility
in El Paso County.
EPE continues to make advancements in solar energy with a new
Community Solar Program launching in 2017, pending Texas regulatory
approval. This program will provide all of EPE’s customers in Texas
the option to subscribe to solar energy from a local solar facility
in east El Paso County.
About El Paso Electric
El Paso Electric is a regional electric utility providing
generation, transmission and distribution service to approximately
400,000 retail and wholesale customers in a 10,000 square mile area
of the Rio Grande valley in west Texas and southern New Mexico. El
Paso Electric has a net dependable generating capability of 1,990
MW.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160803005938/en/
El Paso ElectricEddie Gutierrez, 915-497-3495Vice President –
Public, Government and Customer
Affairseduardo.gutierrez@epelectric.com
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