Archive for the ‘MVEDA Events’ Category
August Business on the Border Forum Features Technical Assistance Program
The August meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, August 3, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.
Leigh Schutzberger, Project Manager for the New Mexico Small Business Assistance Program, will be the featured speaker. The New Mexico Small Business Assistance (NMSBA) Program allows New Mexico small businesses facing technical or business challenges to access the unique expertise and capabilities at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories. NMSBA technical assistance projects are provided at no cost to the small businesses. Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories operate NMSBA as a single program in partnership with the State of New Mexico.
Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, July 29th by sending an email to rsvp@mveda.com or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.
July Business on the Border Forum Features Local Economist
The July meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, July 6, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.
Christopher A. Erickson, Ph.D.
Dr. Christopher Erickson will be the featured speaker at the luncheon. In his “Update and Outlook for the Las Cruces Economy” he will discuss the outlook for Las Cruces next year and beyond. He will also discuss the outlook for the state and national economy.
Dr. Erickson has served on the faculty of the NMSU Department of Economics and International Business since 1987. He is a frequent speaker on financial economics, macroeconomics and the border economy. His primary teaching interest is money and banking. He is the author or co-author of numerous articles on financial economics, including supplemental money and banking text that has been adopted on more than 100 college campuses. He is the Executive Editor of the New Mexico Business Outlook, the e-newsletter of the College of Business at New Mexico State University.
Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, July 1st by clicking the button below or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.
Manufacturing Executive Featured at June Business on the Border
The June meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.
The June Forum will feature Gail E. Houser, Western Regional Director of the National Tooling and Machining Association. The National Tooling and Machining Association is the national representative for the 1,400+ small machining companies located throughout the United States.
Mr. Houser is a professional manufacturing and marketing executive with 35 years experience in custom precision machining, machine tool and capital equipment modernization. His experience includes being a third-generation small business owner in Phoenix. He and his wife, Denise, relocated to Las Vegas, New Mexico three years ago.
Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, May 27th by clicking the button below or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.
Energy Topic of May Business on the Border Forum
The May meeting of the MVEDA Business on the Border Forum will be held on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet, followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.
Clay Doyle
Clay Doyle, Vice President of New Mexico Affairs for El Paso Electric (EPE), will be the featured presenter for the luncheon.He will discuss El Paso Electric’s new seasonal rate structure. Also accompanying Mr. Doyle will be Mr. Paul Royalty, Manager of Energy Efficiency Programs for El Paso Electric, who will be presenting information on EPE’s energy efficiency programs and incentives.
Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, April 29th to ensure proper space will be available. You may register by clicking the button below or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.
MVEDA Spotlights New Mexico Solar
Article courtesy of The Las Cruces Bulletin
By Kristine Sandrick
Capturing the sun’s energy using mirrors to fuel southern New Mexico and west Texas homes was the hot topic of the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance annual appreciation luncheon Friday, March 12, at Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces.
Luncheon keynote speaker Jim Shandalov, eSolar’s vice president of business development, talked about his company’s new power plant under construction in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The company plans to break ground this spring and have the power center operating by summer 2011.
Shandalov said the 92-megawatt plant is being constructed in unincorporated Dona Ana County, 1 mile north of the Mexican border off the Pete Domenici Highway.
The Santa Teresa plant will use 390,000 mirrors to collect energy, and the turbines will be connected to El Paso Electric power lines. Shandalov said the electricity will be enough to power 74,000 homes in peak production.
The company’s concentrating solar power (CSP) technology uses a field of small, flat mirrors – called heliostats – to concentrate sunlight onto a thermal receiver mounted on solar power towers approximately 180 feet high. The captured sunlight heats water in a thermal receiver to produce steam that powers a traditional turbine generator and produces electricity. The eSolar technology leverages a highly accurate system to track the sun over the course of the day.
Due to its modular design and preassembled components, the eSolar solution allows plants to be sited on private land parcels near existing transmission lines and points of consumption.
“It’s a 500-acre site, which is a lot less land and uses less steel than a typical plant, but will create more processing power,” he said. “There will be more (boiler) towers and more mirrors than at our 5-megawatt Sun Tower plant in Lancaster (Calif.)” In addition to the Lancaster plant, which opened in August 2009, eSolar has solar energy partnerships in India, China and South Africa.
Idealab – an Internet search engine company that was bought by Yahoo! – created eSolar just three years ago in Pasadena, California.
“New Mexico in general has done such a tremendous job to bring us here,” Shandalov said. “That’s what brought us here. The site is directly adjacent to El Paso Electric lines and Dona Ana County is supplying the water for the coolers.”
He added that there is a good workforce available to fill the 400 jobs created during the 14- to 16-month construction period.
Shandalov said the plant is built to last 30 years and the only major maintenance required is keeping the mirrors clean and replacing them as necessary.
Also during Friday’s luncheon, MVEDA’s chief executive officer Davin Lopez presented the nonprofit agency’s new marketing look, which he said will help southern New Mexico better attract national site selectors.
“Our goal is to make this area competitive across the country. When people think of New Mexico, they think of how rural it is so we want to broaden what they think of us as a region,” Lopez said.
MVEDA’s new logo emphasizes the “MV,” which stands for Mesilla Valley, and clearly identifies the area’s location with the state. Lopez also presented a new MVEDA website that emphasizes the availability of “the right space” for both commercial land and aerospace development. The website also has a language translator so it can be read by anyone anywhere in the world.
For more information, visit www. nmborderplex.com.
