NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Thursday could be the third time Albuquerque hits a hundred degrees this year already meeting the typical yearly average. Meanwhile, people statewide are also trying to beat the heat.
Despite already hot temperatures, PNM says they won’t have any brownouts this summer two years after shutting down a main coal-fired power plant. They say since the San Juan Generating Station, they’ve added plenty of wind and solar to meet the demand and avoid any loss of power.
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“We know it’s hot out there we know our customers are using a lot more electricity to cool their homes, but we don’t want folks to worry,” said PNM Spokesperson Kai Porter. “PNM is prepared we have been preparing we have been very proactive as we are every summer to meet the demand and continue to provide reliable power,” said Porter.
PNM has 19 different solar sites around the state. This year they have something new, a way to store the power captured by the solar farms. “We’ve also added more battery and solar resources. We added 312 battery storage this year. It was not online in 2023,” said Porter.
The battery storage sites are at the solar farm sites in Bernalillo and Valencia County. Those battery stations help from overloading the circuits at the two facilities while distributing the power to the grid.
PNM says they are not anticipating any brownouts this summer and have enough power to meet the demand. Though things are hot right now, usage is not expected to peak until later this summer. During July, PNM expects to see the peak demand between the hours of 6 and 7 p.m.
All the solar and wind projects PNM has been building mean the company is producing 64% of its energy carbon-free. “Every year we are adding more and more wind and solar resources as we make that transition out of coal generation,” said Porter.
PNM is also continuing its “Good Neighbor Fund” program which helps low-income households from getting their electricity turned off for non-payment.
