Cunningham Plant

Location: West of Hobbs, New Mexico

Plant Description: Cunningham Station is a four-unit, natural gas-fueled station. The first two units installed are steam turbine units; the second two are combustion turbine units.

Power Production Capabilities: 487 megawatts (MW): Unit 1 – 71 MW, Unit 2 – 196 MW, Unit 3 – 110 MW, and Unit 4 – 110 MW.

Fuel Source: Regional natural gas production.

Plant History: Unit 1 was constructed in 1957, Unit 2 in 1965, and Units 3 and 4 in 1997.

Interesting Features: Cunningham Station was named to honor Jack Cunningham, a former Southwestern Public Service president, one of the predecessor companies to Xcel Energy.

Environmental Highlights: Cunningham Station is a zero discharge plant – no process waters are discharged from the plant site. Cooling water from Cunningham is reused to irrigate nearby pecan tree orchards.

Contact Information:

• Plant Information and Tour Requests — 1-800-895-4999
• Media Inquiries — 806-378-2714