Long reliant on oil and natural gas, Farmington takes first steps into renewable energy future

FARMINGTON  — Amid acres of pump jacks and miles of natural gas pipeline that have been in place for decades, a new vision for how this Four Corners community and its neighbors get their power is gradually beginning to take shape.

Despite Farmington's reputation for fossil fuels production in the oil- and gas-rich San Juan Basin, Farmington Electric Utility installed two high-efficiency engines at Bluffview Power Plant this month and is planning to break ground on a 4 megawatt AC solar facility with 12 megawatt-hours of battery storage next year.

"Our goals were based on reliability, low cost energy for our customers and environmental benefit," said Hank Adair, director of Farmington Electric. "And one of the pieces of generation to be added in our portfolio was some reciprocating internal combustion engines, or RICE engines, as they're called."

The new equipment will produce a combined 18 MW, or enough energy to power roughly 14,000 homes across the utility's service area, which includes a total of 46,000 metered customers in Farmington, Bloomfield and Kirtland, as well as portions of Rio Arriba County and the Navajo Nation.

The engines were installed under a contract Farmington Electric struck in the fall of 2023 with Wartsila, a Finnish energy company, and are located inside a new building at the plant at 755 W. Murray Drive in Farmington.

While one new full-time employee was hired to manage the engines, a total of 80 contractors were hired to help install them and construct the new building they're housed inside, Adair said, explaining that many workers came from the surrounding region.

The engines are currently powered by natural gas pumped from the surrounding San Juan Basin, but they're also capable of burning renewable energy sources, such as biofuels, synthetic fuels or hydrogen blends. The engines are also more flexible, Adair added, allowing the utility to calibrate them based on fluctuating energy demands.

Before the coal-powered San Juan Generating Station, located between Farmington and Shiprock and co-owned by Tuscon Electric Power and Farmington Electric, was decommissioned in 2017, the city of Farmington and its Public Utility Commission began creating a roadmap that included the gradual introduction of renewables into its existing energy portfolio.

"I think we reconcile it as what our governance and what our community would love to see," Adair said of the difference between renewable and non-renewable energy sources in the region. "Our focus, again, is for reliable, low-cost energy generation and a sound portfolio, so we balance all that. I don't think they're at odds. I think this utility looks for what is the best fit at the time to meet all of our needs, right?"

A ribbon cutting for the RICE engines is set for Jan. 14 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

John Miller is the Albuquerque Journal’s northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.