Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates entered the energy market Friday, forming a joint venture through his investment firm Cascade Investment with PNM Resources.

With energy prices reaching an all-time high over the past year, and petroleum companies reporting record profits, now seems like a good time to get into the energy market. Mr. Gates can also bring his technology expertise, management savvy, and altruistic impulses to the venture, perhaps by pursuing renewable energy alternatives.

Cascade oversees the personal investments of Mr. Gates and the investment assets of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Kirkland, Washington-based investment firm teamed up on the joint venture, which will be temporarily known as EnergyCo LLC, with PNM Resources.

Although the joint venture is described as a 50-50 arrangement between Cascade and PNM, Cascade also is the second largest shareholder in PNM, so its position in EnergyCo is going to be more than an even split.

Cascade owns approximately 6.5 million, or 9.4 percent, of PNM Resources’ outstanding shares and has been one of the company’s largest shareholders since 2000.

PNM, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, supplies energy and electricity to 760,000 homes and businesses in New Mexico and Texas, and natural gas to 481,000 customers in New Mexico.

Big Helping Hand

The company’s strategy is to focus on large, fast-growing energy markets. The goal of the joint venture is to combine Cascade’s considerable financial resources, courtesy of Mr. Gates, with PNM’s expertise in operating energy companies in today’s deregulated market.

Cascade, with its capital and credit, will help the EnergyCo joint venture buy additional assets so it can expand PNM’s presence in competitive retail electricity sales, operation and ownership of various energy generation assets, and wholesale marketing and trading to build up those assets.

PNM may also contribute some of its existing unregulated assets to the joint venture and matching them up with Cascade’s cash contributions to the venture. PNM wants to separate its regulated and unregulated operations to reduce the complexity of the business, so the venture’s cash exchanges could help it meet that goal.

“Our partnership with Cascade enables us to execute our unregulated growth strategy faster than we could have otherwise,” PNM Resources Chairman Jeff Sterba said in a statement.

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