Committee advances bill enabling reuse of oil and gas wells for energy storage and geothermal projects

The House Judiciary Committee voted to recommend passage of House Bill 361, a measure that would create a regulatory framework to permit reuse of oil and gas wellbores for energy storage and, where applicable, some geothermal technologies.

Representative Romero (sponsor) said HB361 would enable technologies that convert abandoned or temporarily abandoned wellbores into energy storage assets or to support certain geothermal projects. Witnesses included industry and technology representatives who told the committee that wellbore repurposing can add low‑cost, resilient storage capacity needed for higher renewable penetration on the grid. Mike D’Antonio of Xcel Energy said storage options are a needed element for future capacity, and Stefan Streckfus, cofounder and CTO of Renewal Energy, described his company’s technology to convert wells into energy storage devices and asked for enabling law to invest in New Mexico.

Questions from members focused on technology differences (gravity‑based storage vs geothermal), temporary abandonment procedures and whether repurposing would preclude later hydrocarbon recovery. Sponsors explained that standard oilfield temporary abandonment steps—placing a steel bridge plug and cementing above hydrocarbon zones—are part of the retrofit process and that language was included to avoid excluding geothermal stakeholders.

The committee approved a motion for "do pass," and the chair announced the recommendation. Testimony indicated support from environmental and industry stakeholders and positioned the bill as an enabling, technology‑neutral framework to attract investment in energy‑storage solutions.