New Mexico's natural resources
New Mexico is rich in natural resources, playing a significant role in energy production within the United States. The state is a major supplier of fossil fuels, including natural gas, oil, and coal, with notable reserves located in the San Juan Basin and the Permian Basin. In recent years, New Mexico has also made strides in renewable energy, particularly in wind and solar power. It ranks second in the nation for solar energy potential and has seen substantial growth in its wind energy sector, generating approximately 38% of its electricity from wind projects as of 2023.
Despite its uranium reserves and historical significance related to nuclear energy, New Mexico does not currently have nuclear power capabilities. The state's diverse geographical features, including the Great Plains and limited water resources, influence its energy production methods, with hydropower playing a minimal role. Moreover, New Mexico has adopted various initiatives to promote clean energy and reduce carbon emissions, including a renewable portfolio standard that mandates a percentage of electricity sales come from renewable sources. The ongoing development of renewable energy projects, such as the SunZia transmission and wind project, highlights New Mexico's commitment to expanding its sustainable energy infrastructure.
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New Mexico's natural resources
Summary: The state of New Mexico has abundant natural resources, including energy sources, and is a net supplier of electricity. It produces natural gas, oil, and coal, and also has considerable potential for renewables, especially wind power and solar power.
Possessing a wealth of natural resources, New Mexico is a major producer of crude oil, sharing with Colorado an area that contains one of the largest stores of proven natural gas reserves in America. Wind power is the chief source of renewable energy, but New Mexico is considered to have the second-highest potential in the nation for the development of solar energy, which is expanding rapidly. Despite its important uranium reserves and its historical role as the site where the atom bomb was developed during the Manhattan Project (in Los Alamos), New Mexico has no nuclear power capability.
New Mexico, which is located in the southwestern United States, covers a land area of 121,598 square miles, making it the fifth-largest state. The Great Plains cover the eastern third of New Mexico, and only 234 square miles are covered by water. The major rivers are the Rio Grande and the Pecos. Major lakes are Elephant Butte Reservoir, Conchas Lake, and Navajo Reservoir. Thus, the use of hydropower is somewhat limited. The Navajo and Farmington dams in the San Juan Basin produce 30 megawatts, and another 50 megawatts are available from the Elephant Butte, Abiquiu, and El Vado Dams on the Rio Grande. New Mexico receives 200 megawatts from the Colorado River Project.
Energy Resources and Initiatives
In 2017, New Mexico consumed 682 trillion British thermal units (Btu) of total energy, and the state ranked fourteenth in the nation in energy consumption per capita. That same year, New Mexico produced 2,677 trillion Btu of total energy. This discrepancy between production and consumption makes New Mexico a major net exporter of energy to other states. In 2021, it was the fifth-largest net energy supplier in the United States.
New Mexico has significant fossil fuel resources, including important natural gas reserves. Its natural gas production provided about 7 percent of all natural gas produced in America in 2023. The San Juan Basin, which spreads from New Mexico to Colorado, holds one of the largest fields of proved natural gas reserves that can be found in the United States. The Blanco Hub, within this basin, serves as a transportation point for natural gas used throughout the western states. New Mexico is one of three states that contain the largest resources of coal-bed methane. The others are Colorado and Wyoming. In New Mexico, coal-bed methane accounts for a third of all natural gas produced. Three of the largest American oil fields are located in New Mexico’s Permian Basin.
The New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division serves as the entity responsible for encouraging individuals and businesses in New Mexico to reduce the state’s carbon footprint and promote the use of clean energy. Spurred by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Governor Bill Richardson announced in January of that year that he was establishing a new "green jobs cabinet" made up of secretaries from the Departments of Public Education, Higher Education, Work Force Solutions, Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources, and Environment and Agriculture, along with the New Mexico Investment Office. The secretary for economic development was chosen to chair the cabinet for the purpose of promoting clean energy and technology while energizing the state economy and putting people to work.
After the US Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009, state governors were required to submit letters of intent in order to qualify for grants allotted to improving energy efficiency and promoting renewable sources of energy. Governor Richardson responded with assurances that New Mexico had passed the Efficient Use of Energy Act in 1978. He noted that the Public Regulations Commission and the Regulation and Licensing Department had long been involved in promoting energy cost-effectiveness and implementing green building codes. In all, New Mexico received $612.9 million for 94 separate energy projects that included support for wind, solar, geothermal, and biofuels development. Other projects focused on cleaning up nuclear testing sites used during the Cold War. The $26.9 million allotted to New Mexico through the Weatherization Assistance Program helped to weatherize low-income homes and has financed training to create a green workforce. Other funds were used to finance an appliance rebate program for consumers who were replacing outdated appliances with more energy-efficient models.
Renewable Energy
Wind is the primary source of renewable energy used in New Mexico. In the fall of 2003, the New Mexico Wind Energy Center became operational. The facility, which is located near Fort Sumner, contained 136 210-foot-high turbines that generated 200 megawatts of power capable of producing sufficient electricity to power 94,00 homes. New Mexico’s other wind farms operating by the early 2000s included Clovis (2 megawatts), San Jon (80 megawatts), Elida (120 megawatts), House (204 megawatts), Santa Rosa (22 megawatts), Gladstone (20 megawatts), and Clayton (120 megawatts). The sector continued to grow in the 2010s. In 2023, about 38 percent of all electricity generated in New Mexico was generated by wind projects. Half of the state's ten largest power plants by capacity and annual generation are wind farms. In late 2023, installed wind power capacity was 4,400 megawatts.
Reflecting its scarcity of water resources, very little electricity generated in New Mexico is derived from traditional hydropower. Nevertheless, between 2006 and 2007, New Mexico reported 352 percent growth in the use of hydroelectric power.
Even though solar power was previously not a major priority in New Mexico, in the winter of 2010 the US Department of Energy selected the state as one of several western states that were ideally situated for developing a solar energy zone. The use of solar energy subsequently accelerated. For instance, solar panels were installed at the Living Desert Zoo to provide an alternative source of energy and a savings of up to $10,000 annually.
New Mexico has often been labeled as the state with the second-best potential for developing solar power. In Albuquerque, the largest city in the state, the sun shines 278 days of the year. Scientific American has estimated that by using an area of land 95 square miles, New Mexico could generate 1,119,000 megawatts of solar energy. This energy has the potential to slash the state’s carbon footprint drastically. Proponents of green energy point out that rooftop solar power is easily affordable for most homes and businesses. Solar photovoltaic (PV) facilities and customer installations provided a combined 8 percent of New Mexico's generated power in 2023.
The search for renewable energy in New Mexico is epitomized by the Dreaming New Mexico project, which is pursing solar, wind, biofuels, and geothermal power as viable alternative sources of energy. The state joined just six others when it saw the opening of a utility-level geothermal power plant in 2013. By 2017, New Mexico's geothermal sector was the sixth-largest in the country, used for a variety of energy purposes including greenhouse agriculture and direct heating.
New Mexico adopted a renewable portfolio standard (RPS) to help guide the development of renewable resources. It mandated that 20 percent of in-state sales of electricity from investor-owned electric utilities be renewably sourced by 2020. Half of that percentage was required to be from wind or solar power. Financial incentives for renewables, as well as other regulatory measures, were also in place. By 2023, renewable sources supplied about 47 percent of the state's electricity. That year, ground was broken for Pattern Energy's SunZia transmission and wind project. When completed, it would provide up to 3 gigawatts of wind energy to South Central Arizona by way of a new 550-mile high-voltage transmission line.
Bibliography
Barnes, Roland V., ed. Energy Crisis in America? Huntington, NY: Nova Science, 2001.
Bird, Lori, et al. Green Power Marketing in the United States: A Status Report. Golden, CO: National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2008.
Dreaming New Mexico. "Energy: Dreaming the Future Can Create the Future." www.dreamingnewmexico.org/energy.
"New Mexico." US Energy Information Administration, US Department of Energy, 20 June 2024, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=NM. Accessed 16 Aug. 2024.
New Mexico Energy Conservation and Management Division. "Energy." www.emnrd.state.nm.us/ecmd.
"Richardson Rolls Out Green Jobs Cabinet." New Mexico Business Weekly, January 22, 2009. www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/stories/2009/01/19/daily48.html.
Robinson-Avila, Kevin. "At Long Last, 'Transformational' SunZia Project Breaks Ground in Corona, New Mexico." Albuquerque Journal, 10 July 2024, www.abqjournal.com/business/at-long-last-transformational-sunzia-project-breaks-ground-in-corona-new-mexico/article‗8da70628-4909-11ee-afb5-1747f28c80ff.html. Accessed 5 Aug. 2024.