El Paso Electric Celebrates Milestone, National Environmental
Organization Lauds Utility
EL PASO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
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.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160803005938/en/
El Paso Electric
Eddie Gutierrez, 915-497-3495
Vice President
- Public, Government and Customer Affairs
eduardo.gutierrez@epelectric.com
Source: El Paso Electric
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