Where Does Our Region’s Energy Come From?
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Where does El Paso’s Energy come from?
Think of the major sources of energy that we use every day. Electricity, natural gas and the liquid gasoline we use in our vehicles all provide the El Paso/Las Cruces region the energy it needs. These energy sources affect our economy and are vastly important to our everyday life.
The energy we use in our region is all imported.
One example of our current lifestyle, with regards to energy, is that we drive vehicles to get to places we don’t want to walk to, or because we live far from the activities we, as a still growing region, need in our everyday lives. Activities such as education, work, buying groceries, seeing friends, seeing relatives …
There are only two elemental sources for all the energy on earth:
1. Nuclear Energy
2. Solar Energy
El Paso Electric’s Service Territory
Picture: El Paso Service Area Source: El Paso Electric
The Graphic above shows the natural gas electric generators in our region. It also shows the nuclear power plant. The Coal fired plant is not shown, but El Paso Electric own’s 7% of the San Juan Coal Fired plant in Northern New Mexico. (Source: http://www.pnm.com/systems/4c.htm)
What provides our region’s electricity and how much does it provide?
Figure 1 Percentage of Electricity and Source. Source: www.puc.state.tx.us
1. Nuclear energy provides approximately 41% of the electricity in the El Paso/Las Cruces region, it is generated at the Palo Verde Nuclear power plant in Arizona and reaches us via electrical transmission lines.
2. 25% of our electricity is provided by Natural Gas Electric Generation, the natural gas is imported via Natural Gas (NG) pipelines brought in from the Permian Basin of Texas and northern New Mexico and burned using generators made specifically for natural gas in the El Paso Electric territory.
Figure 2 Natural Gas Pipelines from Energy Rich Regions to Consumers Source: www.eia.doe.gov
3. Coal provides 8% of our electrical energy, it is generated at the San Juan coal fired electric generation plant in Northern New Mexico and provides us power via electrical transmission lines.
4. Electrical energy is also sourced on the open market and can be a mix of the above sources.
5. Less than 1% of our energy is from renewable or sustainable sources such as wind or solar energy.
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