By Hannah Grover
New Mexico’s three investor-owned utilities outlined steps they are taking to prevent wildfires during a New Mexico Public Regulation Commission workshop Thursday afternoon.
Two of the utilities — the Public Service Company of New Mexico and Southwestern Public Service Company — have submitted voluntary fire mitigation plans to the state regulators and are using tools like public safety power shutoffs to reduce risks.
Utilities say they are facing increasing costs to address fire risks even as the wildfire season shifts due to climate change.
A year-round threat
Omni Warner, vice president of operations and engineering for PNM, said wildfire used to be viewed as a seasonal threat, but that is changing.
“The conditions could occur at any time of the year, and we’ve watched that happen across the nation. We’ve watched it even inside of our home state,” he said.
Paul McGregor, the vice president of wildfire risk management for Xcel Energy — which owns SPS — echoed Warner’s comments.
“We are seeing drier conditions, later fuel availability and increased fire weather conditions leading to this year round threat now of potential catastrophic wildfires in our service territory,” he said. “Xcel is committed to reducing the ignitions associated with [utility] facilities, with an overall goal of eliminating catastrophic wildfires.”
The utilities have determined which areas of their service territory have higher risks of wildfires. For PNM, those areas include the East Mountains, Santa Fe, Ruidoso and Las Vegas. These areas are places where PNM will implement tools such as public safety power shutoffs.
Need for better weather monitoring system
Both PNM and SPS said they rely on weather data to make decisions about public safety power shutoffs, but the monitoring systems in New Mexico are not sufficient.
“Unfortunately, there is scarcity of weather stations, particularly in the eastern New Mexico area,” McGregor said.
Both PNM and SPS are looking to install utility-owned weather stations in strategic locations in their service territory.
The utilities are also planning ways they can detect fires earlier.
Wes Gray, PNM’s executive director of New Mexico Field Operations, said the utility is undertaking a pilot project that includes installing fire detection cameras in a watershed in the Santa Fe area.
McGregor said SPS is looking at using artificial intelligence cameras to help with early fire detection and to monitor vegetation conditions.
Public safety power shutoffs
PNM and SPS began using public safety power shutoffs this year. The state’s first public safety power shutoff occurred in early March in SPS’ service territory. SPS has turned off electricity to areas to reduce the chance of utility infrastructure causing a fire three times. Meanwhile, PNM has implemented the measure once, but has warned of possible shut offs multiple times.
Warner said public safety power shutoffs are a last resort measure.
One reason why PNM describes power shutoffs as a last resort measure is because turning off electricity can also mean water isn’t available to fight fires if one does start.
El Paso Electric has not implemented a public safety power shutoff.
Infrastructure hardening and system resilience
Those public safety power shutoffs have received much of the attention when it comes to efforts undertaken to reduce the chance the utility infrastructure will cause a wildfire.
PNM officials outlined other measures, including working with the Gila National Forest to increase the vegetation clearing around the power lines from 20 to 40 feet. PNM is working to get similar agreements in place in the Cibola National Forest and Santa Fe National Forest. The utility is also changing to use different types of poles in areas with high fire risks and wrapping the base in a fire-retardant material.
Omar Gallegos, the vice president of energy delivery at El Paso Electric, said EPE is “a little bit more fortunate” because, unlike PNM and SPS, it does not have many communities in its service territory in areas with high-density vegetation.
Gray said microgrids could help PNM improve resiliency and keep power on to as many people as possible. He explained that if a neighborhood is outside of the identified high-fire risk area but relies on the same substation, that neighborhood could have no electricity during a public safety power shutoff.
“So if we can put in something like a micro grid that would allow them to stay on, reducing that impact on our consumers,” he said.