Valencia Generating Station

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Owned and operated by PNM, Valencia Generating Station in Las Vegas, N.M., is a single-unit, 20-megawatt plant built in 1972. The plant currently operates on diesel fuel, as no source of natural gas is available to the plant.

In October 2005, PNM filed with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) to have the plant decommissioned and abandoned. Pending PRC approval, PNM expects to remove the turbine by summer 2007.

Though rarely operated, the plant has been a critical part of PNM's electricity infrastructure, providing power when electricity demand on the PNM system is high and also as backup power supply to the Las Vegas area. However, PNM recently completed distribution system upgrades within the City of Las Vegas that have eliminated dependence on the plant for backup power during certain system outages. Further, PNM is building a transmission project near Santa Fe, scheduled for completion in 2006, that will make the Valencia Generating Station unnecessary for transmission system support.

The turbine has been operated each year, on average, less than 1 percent of the time.

Environment

• The plant meets all applicable federal and state laws and regulations.
• Though it does emit nitrogen oxide, the turbine's stack causes emissions to be dispersed over a large area - and in low concentrations — rather than in large concentrations in the immediate area. The emissions do not result in state or federal ambient standards being exceeded.
• In response to noise complaints, PNM in 2001 installed specialized noise-abatement equipment at a cost of $675,000. The system reduced noise in nearly all nearby neighborhoods by 50 percent.

More about Valencia

Overview of Las Vegas turbine operations