New Mexico regulators approved the final phase of a 345-kV transmission line project to be built by Xcel Energy Inc. subsidiary Southwestern Public Service Co. to address reliability needs in eastern New Mexico and west Texas.
The New Mexico Public Regulation Commission on Nov. 29 approved an order adopting a recommended decision to grant the utility, known as SPS, a certificate of public convenience and necessity for a transmission line that will run about 36 miles from New Mexico's border with Texas to the Hobbs generating substation in Lea County, N.M.
The segment is part of the larger Tuco-Yoakum-Hobbs project that runs about 168 miles from the Tuco substation in Hale County, Texas, to the Hobbs plant substation in New Mexico. The larger project was identified by the Southwest Power Pool to address reliability needs in the eastern New Mexico and west Texas region, finding that the transmission line is needed to address and avoid potential loading and voltage violations due to insufficient power supply to meet increased load.
Texas regulators had previously approved two other project segments.
The Public Utility Commission of Texas in September approved a 105.5-mile segment from the Tuco substation to the Yoakum substation and in March 2016 approved a 27-mile segment between the Yoakum substation and the Texas-New Mexico border.
All three portions are to be in service by June 1, 2020.
According to the order, the New Mexico segment is expected to cost about $50.9 million.
The Tuco-Yoakum-Hobbs project is part of Xcel Energy's "Power for the Plains" grid expansion effort in the Texas Panhandle and eastern New Mexico, expected to be complete in 2021. (New Mexico PRC Case No. 17-00143-UT)
