News Release

March 12, 2002

St. Vincent, Hilton of Santa Fe Join PNM
in Innovative, On-Site Generation Project

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NEWS MEDIA CONTACT Susan Sponar Telephone: (505) 241-2768

Santa Fe: In a first-of-its-kind effort, PNM has teamed up with St. Vincent Hospital and the Hilton of Santa Fe to install state-of-the-art microturbine generating units, one of which began generating electricity today.

The units are part of a PNM demonstration project designed to document and study the performance of the low-emission, gas-fired microturbines. The company is particularly interested in how the units work in conjunction with electricity flowing from the electric grid that connects homes and businesses throughout New Mexico to the company’s centralized power plants.

"We are thrilled to offer this project in direct response to a request by community leaders and activists in Santa Fe and Las Vegas," said Roger Flynn, PNM executive vice president. "This will be a valuable learning process for all of us."

The demonstration project arose out of Project Power, a PNM-sponsored, public-participation process that is evaluating options for ensuring adequate supplies of electricity, beginning with the winter of 2003-2004, for Santa Fe and nearby Las Vegas. Though Project Power participants have narrowed their focus to building new transmission capacity in the area, they also expressed a desire to learn more about distributed generation and microturbine technology. 

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and New Mexico State University also are participants in the project. They will collect data from the microturbines and work with PNM to evaluate the results and publish a comprehensive report on overall performance. Key indicators include cost per kilowatt hour, efficiency, reliability, and environmental impact. The data also will be shared with the Electric Power Research Institute, a national non-profit energy research consortium currently studying microturbines.

"This project gives St. Vincent Hospital a unique opportunity to evaluate other means of generating power that may reduce cost in the future," said Chris Rael, St. Vincent Hospital facility planning advisor. "For very little cost, we’re able to evaluate the reliability and potential impact of this alternative power source." 

The system at St. Vincent Hospital, 455 St. Michael’s Drive, began generating electricity today. Produced by Capstone Turbine Corp., of Chatsworth, Calif., the system is expected to generate about 56 kilowatts of electricity at any given time, or the amount of electricity used by 40 average-sized homes. Capstone is the world’s leading manufacturer of microturbine generating units. The Capstone microturbine has one moving part and uses no water, oil, lubricants or coolants. 

The St. Vincent installation includes a heat exchanger that captures heat from the microturbine’s exhaust and puts it to additional use, in this case, preheating water for the hospital’s boilers. Use of the exhaust heat, known as cogeneration, should reduce heating costs while extending the life of the hospital’s boilers. 

The microturbine project at the Hilton of Santa Fe, 100 Sandoval Road, will be installed later this spring and is expected to generate about 26 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power about 19 average-sized homes. 

"We became involved in this project because we support alternative ways to generate power," said Ron Rockelein, general manager of the Hilton of Santa Fe. "This project is good for the Hilton – and it’s also good for the community."

PNM is paying the $412,000 tab for the project, including purchase of the units, engineering, installation, testing, analysis, and fuel for two full years. The company hopes to make monthly data from the systems - and possibly real-time data - available online later this year. 

PNM is a combined electric and gas utility serving approximately 1.3 million people in New Mexico. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of PNM Resources, also sells power on the wholesale market in the Western U.S. PNM Resources stock is traded primarily on the NYSE under the symbol PNM. For more information, see the company's website at www.pnm.com.

St. Vincent Hospital is a non-profit, non-affiliated acute care community hospital serving more than 250,000 people in seven counties in northern New Mexico. Founded in 1865 by Sisters of Charity, St. Vincent is New Mexico's oldest hospital and the largest private employer in Santa Fe. The hospital is designated as a "sole community provider" by the Health Care Financing Administration and accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).

The Hilton of Santa Fe has 157 guest rooms, three suites and three luxurious casitas. All public areas have been designated non-smoking as well as 149 of the guest rooms. Rooms specially designed for the comfort of guests with disabilities are also available. Decorated throughout with beautiful regional artwork and antiquities, the Hilton of Santa Fe also preserves the historic Ortiz Hacienda, one of Santa Fe's well known historical sites.