Wind Power News: New Mexico
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They are the products of the organizations or individuals noted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch.
Birds merit consideration from wind-farmers
Wind energy, for all its progress in recent decades, is still in its childhood — and to adults watching it grow, that can mean trouble. The noise and the unsightliness of the turbines might be mere nuisances, but the threat they pose to bird populations is what puts environmentalists in a quandary: Wind-spun electricity beats the coal-fired steam variety hands down, but what those propeller blades do to birds appears horrific. In Tuesday’s New Mexican was a front-page story about . . .
Wind power vs. whooping crane on the prairie?
The term of art is incidental take. It refers to the “harassment, harm, pursuit, hunting, shooting, wounding, killing, trapping, capture, or collection of any threatened or endangered species.” Incidental take is in the news now because the Obama administration has given notice that it is evaluating issuing an incidental take permit (ITP) – a free pass of sorts – in a 200-mile-wide corridor from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico where whooping cranes migrate. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . . .
PRC’s wind demands a lot of costly hot air
Perhaps state utility regulators have decided that tilting at this windmill wasn’t a productive use of its time. The Public Regulation Commission appeared to be thumbing its nose at the law and overstepping its authority by directing the state’s largest producer of electricity to buy wind power to meet its renewable energy requirements. The commission recently ordered Public Service Company of New Mexico to spend up to $6 million annually to buy wind power to meet its 2011 requirement that . . .
PNM challenges commission order to buy wind power
Public Service Company of New Mexico is challenging a directive from state regulators that it buy more wind power for its electricity customers. A PNM spokeswoman initially said the utility would comply with a state Public Regulation Commission order by spending up to $6 million annually for wind power from a New Mexico plant. But the company changed course last week and now says it will fight the commission’s order. PNM is the state’s largest electricity supplier with about 500,000 . . .
PRC orders PNM to acquire more wind energy
SANTA FE — Can the state Public Regulation Commission tell an electric company how to run its business if the firm is obeying the law? The commission, in a 5-0 vote, ordered Public Service Company of New Mexico to buy more wind power and use it to supply electricity. The company, typically called PNM, is challenging the directive as excessive and expensive government interference. With about 500,000 customers, PNM is the state’s largest electricity supplier. Like all utility companies in . . .
PRC pushes PNM toward wind energy
SANTA FE Wind roars through the state nearly every day, and government regulators voted Thursday to press Public Service Company of New Mexico to use it to provide more electricity. The state Public Regulation Commission rejected the major part of the company’s 2011 renewable energy plan in a 5-0 vote. The next step is a commission order that would require the company to buy more wind power, then use it to supply electricity for customers. New Mexico law requires that . . .
PRC to PNM: more renewables
State regulators have unanimously rejected PNM Resources’ request to use certificates it buys from other utilities to meet requirements that it produce 10 percent of its electricity in 2011 with renewable resources such as solar and wind energy. Public Regulation Commissioner Jason Marks said Friday PNM’s plan to acquire certificates was legal and proper but that the PRC wants to prod utilities into making more electricity from renewable resources. A PNM spokeswoman said the company would comply with the PRC . . .
PNM faces showdown with regulators: record in renewable energy questioned
SANTA FE — New Mexico’s largest electricity company faces a showdown this week with state regulators over how little renewable energy it produces. Jason Marks, a member of the state Public Regulation Commission, on Tuesday said Public Service Company of New Mexico had failed to meet government requirements for solar energy development. Worse still, the giant with 500,000 customers had come up short while two electric companies with smaller market shares were complying with the state’s rules for renewable energy, . . .
Wind power company disputes alleged SCADA hack
A major U.S. energy supplier has found no evidence of breach despite claims by a former employee that he hacked into the company’s New Mexico wind turbine facility as revenge for being fired. On Saturday, the intruder, using the alias “Bgr R,” posted an entry to the Full Disclosure mailing list claiming to have successfully broken into the Fort Sumner wind turbine facility, which is owned and operated by NextEra Energy Resources, the primary provider of wind and solar power . . .
Anonymous hacker claims he broke into wind turbine systems
Claiming revenge for an “illegitimate firing,” someone has posted screenshots and other data, apparently showing that he was able to break a 200 megawat wind turbine system owned by NextEra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of Florida Power & Light. The data was posted to the Full Disclossure security mailing list Saturday anonymously, by someone using the name “Bgr R.” In the post, he (or she) wrote, “Here comes my revenge for illegitimate firing from Florida Power & Light Company… ain’t . . .
