PNM Unit In Deal For Early Exit From Four Corners Power Plant By 2024

(RTTNews) - PNM Resources, Inc. (PNM) announced Monday that its New Mexico utility unit PNM has reached an agreement to facilitate its exit from the Four Corners Power Plant in 2024, seven years earlier than planned.

PNM currently has a 13 percent ownership stake in Units 4 and 5 of the 1,540-megawatt Four Corners Power Plant. These 200 megawatts comprise less than 10 percent of PNM's total energy portfolio and reflect the last of PNM's remaining coal-fired generation capacity.

PNM said it solidified its plans to fully exit coal under the deal with the assignments of its rights under its coal supply agreement and the transfer of its 200-megawatt capacity ownership in the Four Corners Power Plant to the Navajo Transitional Energy Corp. or NTEC at the end of 2024. The contracts were previously set to expire in 2031.

Under the agreement, PNM will make a $75 million payment for relief from its obligations under the coal supply agreement with NTEC.

PNM said it plans to file with the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission or NMPRC in early 2021 for abandonment and securitization of unrecovered investment in the plant.

Pat Vincent-Collawn, PNM Resources' chairman, president and CEO, said, "Our accelerated exit means earlier savings on PNM customer bills and timely financial support for the Navajo Nation while it continues to navigate its transition to a renewable energy economy."