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PNM Completes Major Environmental Upgrade at San Juan Generating Station; Gov. Richardson Lauds Emission Cuts Waterflow, N.M.: PNM has completed a three-year, $330 million environmental upgrade at its San Juan Generating Station, the most significant upgrade in the plant’s history. The upgrades will reduce the plant’s emissions by about 14,000 tons annually. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson lauded completion of the upgrades. “I commend PNM and the other owners of San Juan for completing this significant effort to reduce the plant's impact on the environment. This investment in pollution controls, as required by an agreement PNM made with the state and environmental groups in 2005, means cleaner air for New Mexicans," he said. “The completion of the upgrade is good news for air quality in the Four Corners region and good news for PNM customers, who will have continued access to this affordable, reliable source of power for years to come,” said Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM president and CEO. “Even as we look to expand our investment in renewable energy, San Juan remains a vital source of power for serving customers.” New technologies installed at the 1,798-megawatt, coal-fired plant located near Farmington, N.M. have significantly reduced four primary emissions. Data from the first three of the plant’s four units to be upgraded shows an approximate:
The upgrades are the result of a cooperative agreement that PNM, which operates the plant on behalf of several owners, signed in 2005 with the N.M. Environment Department, the Grand Canyon Trust and the Sierra Club. In addition to bringing cleaner air to the region, the construction project had a significant, positive impact on San Juan County and the Four Corners area. Construction created hundreds of temporary jobs, and the new pollution control equipment is expected to generate millions in new state and local taxes during the next several years. The upgrades included installation of state-of-the-art mercury control technology, state-of-the-art low-NOx burners and overfire air, particulate baghouse control technology, and systems to increase the scrubbing and removal of SO2. As part of the agreement, PNM agreed to lower permit levels on emissions and to pay the state for excess emissions while the plant was being upgraded. PNM and the other owners have been accruing the funds in escrow since the settlement was signed and have now paid the state $6.9 million for those emissions. PNM’s portion of that total, based on its ownership of the plant, is 47 percent. “The completion of the upgrades and the payment of this assessment closes one chapter in the plant’s history and begins a new one. The employees who have worked so diligently on the upgrade deserve to be commended for their work – and we all are proud that the plant will have a smaller impact on the environment going forward,” Vincent-Collawn said. A press release on the completion of the upgrades recently issued by the Sierra Club and PNM is a subsidiary of PNM Resources, an energy holding company based in Albuquerque, N.M. PNM provides electric utility service to 495,000 retail customers in New Mexico. The company also sells power on the wholesale market in the West. PNM Resources stock is traded primarily on the NYSE under the symbol PNM. For more information, see the company's Web site at PNM.com. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
