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Committee advances measure allowing conversion of idle wells to energy storage or geothermal uses
Summary
House Bill 361, which would permit conversion of orphaned or inactive oil wells into energy‑storage facilities (gravity, thermal or geothermal) and authorize regulatory steps for those projects, received a due‑pass committee vote after proponents described pilot work and opponents raised economic and environmental concerns.
The Senate Conservation Committee advanced House Bill 361 after testimony from energy‑storage startups, utilities and technical experts that converting idle oil wells into storage assets could provide low‑cost, distributed energy storage while putting inactive well infrastructure to use.
Sponsor Representative Romero told the committee the bill would authorize repurposing of orphaned or low‑producing wells to host technologies such as gravity‑based down‑hole weights or geothermal‑type thermal storage. Conversion proponents described technologies in pilot scale elsewhere (including a commercial scale system operating in California) that use winches or borehole thermal systems to store electricity and return it when needed.
Companies and technical witnesses said conversions could provide distributed, dispatchable storage, reduce methane emissions from abandoned wells by sealing and repurposing them, and produce new economic opportunities. Xcel Energy and other utilities voiced interest in optionality for localized dispatchable capacity.
Critics and several senators raised caution about capital costs, permitting complexity, long‑term liability, the need for utility interconnection and the limited per‑well energy yield (testimony estimated 30–150 kWh per well, depending on depth and technology). Senators also asked whether conversions would require additional regulatory staff at the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and the Oil Conservation Division and how produced water, geothermal fluids and other byproducts would be handled.
The committee held a roll‑call and announced a due‑pass recommendation (4 yes, 3 no). Sponsors and proponents said the measure is an enabling framework to allow projects to be tried in New Mexico, with technical and market details to be worked out by developers and regulators.
