Posts Tagged ‘solar energy’

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Samantha Roberts

As 2011 comes to a close, businesses are rushing to make end-of-the-year deadlines, including renewable energy certificates (REC) for solar that will change in 2012.

F&A Dairy Products will be expanding its solar systems, adding four 100kilowatt units to the existing unit the dairy installed in May. “The four additional units will fuel different parts of the complex and will be located next to the existing unit,” said Bob Snyder, vice president of New Mexico operations for F&A Dairy. Snyder said the dairy decided to add the additional solar now, so it could take advantage of incentives that will expire in 2011.

“RECs are at a peak right now,” said Mellow Honek, a managing member of Sunspot Solar Energy Systems, which installed the panels at the dairy. “They are great right now, but they will still be good next year. The incentives are not going away, but will be changing. “I would definitely recommend other people (add solar). It’s a step in the right direction toward energy independence. And we have an abundance of sunshine here.”

“We thought if we were going to do it, it better be this year,” Snyder said. “The panels significantly offset the energy we use. “Solar does create enough energy to make a difference.”

Though the dairy uses too much energy to be entirely generated by solar, Snyder said the panels will help “take out some of the peaks.” “This is just to offset costs,” he said. “A dairy is a big place, and we use a lot of utilities to process the milk into cheese.”

Honek said the amount of solar the dairy will have after construction on the additional panels is completed in March 2012 will be equivalent to 100 solar systems on mid-sizes houses. “To my knowledge, the one 100-kilowatt unit the dairy has now is the largest commercial system on a privately owned building in New Mexico,” Honek said. “The system after everything is completed will be five times that size.”

Honek said installing all of the panels will take about 1,300 man hours. “The dairy has been a great customer, and they are a perfect example of a company that is making an investment in a major resource we have here,” Honek said. “Powering a portion of their plant using solar shows what is possible for businesses to do to reduce long-term energy costs.”

The dairy doubled in size a little more than one year ago and now employs about 140 people. “We are constantly making changes,” Snyder said. “Our goal is to get both plants running to full capacity.”

F&A Dairy distributes its products to Toucan Market and other distributors. Locally, Dion’s Pizza is a purchaser of F&A Dairy products.

The Future of Dairy in New Mexico

F&A Dairy is one example of growth the dairy industry in New Mexico has seen over the past few years. “Southern New Mexico is a major player in the dairy market,” said Jeff Witte, director/ secretary for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA).

“Southern New Mexico dairies have an abundant milk supply,” Snyder said. “Farmers are leaving California and coming to New Mexico and the Texas panhandle.”

Milk production in New Mexico averages more than 600 million pounds per month, according to the NMDA. New Mexico currently has 173 dairy farms, with a large number of them in eastern New Mexico. There are 20 processing plants in the state.

“Dairy in New Mexico saw growth in the eastern portion of the state from 2008 to ’09,” said Robert Hagevoort, extension dairy specialist with New Mexico State University. Hagevoort said cheese plants in Clovis, N.M., and Dalhart, Texas, spurred this growth. “There are benefits in New Mexico for the dairy industry,” Hagevoort said. “There is a lot of agriculture in New Mexico, so farms can grow the feed that dairies need, and they, in turn, can supply the farms with fertilizer. “There is a natural free flow from each one.”

Hagevoort said dairies also use marginal farmland so they don’t compete with other crops. However, dairies are struggling with drought conditions, high feed costs and corn prices that are increased from ethanol demands. “Depending on world economy, the future of dairy in New Mexico is still great,” he said. “It all depends on larger economic factors beyond our control. Linking energy to food policies doesn’t make any sense.”

Two of the three renewable energy projects in Doña Ana County are on-line and producing electricity under a power purchase agreement with El Paso Electric. Construction for the third solar energy project has begun in Las Cruces.

NRG at Santa Teresa

NRG Energy, through its wholly owned subsidiary NRG Solar, completed construction recently on the Roadrunner Solar Generating Facility, which is one of the first large-scale solar projects built in New Mexico.  The Roadrunner Solar Generating Facility is located on 210 acres near the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. Its 340,000 photovoltaic solar panels can produce up to 20 megawatts of electricity, which is enough power to supply 6,600 homes in El Paso Electric’s system. (Related story)

NextEra at Hatch

NextEra Energy Resources, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, recently completed one of the largest concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) systems in North America on 39 acres in the Hatch Industrial Park, 7 miles west of the Village of Hatch. The 5-megawatt (MW) system, with 81 solar tracking concentrator panels, was funded by Village of Hatch Industrial Revenue Bonds. The Village put an emphasis on New Mexico jobs for New Mexicans. (Related story)

SunEdison at Las Cruces

SunEdison, one of the largest solar energy providers in North America, has begun construction of the solar power generation facility at the City of Las Cruces West Mesa Industrial Park.  The 12MW solar power project is expected to require 230 construction jobs for a 6-9 month period.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

By Marvin Tessneer

The Las Cruces community will connect with renewable energy when NRG Energy starts generating power this fall at its Roadrunner Solar Plant in Santa Teresa.

The solar panel plant is being set up on 210 acres of privately owned land, 10 miles west of El Paso adjacent to El Paso Electric Co. transmission lines.

The plant is designed to create 20 megawatts of solar generated electrical power that will be sold to El Paso Electric Co. under a 20-year power purchase agreement. NRG also plans to invest $21 million in the project in the next three years, according to an NRG Energy news release.

“We’re very pleased that the NRG Roadrunner Solar Facility in Santa Teresa is coming along according to schedule, and we’re looking forward to the site’s presentation this fall,” said El Paso Electric Chief Executive Officer David Stevens. “Our 20-year contract to purchase the power from the facility demonstrates El Paso Electric’s on-going commitment to solar energy research, education and utilization in this area.”

At full capacity, the Roadrunner Solar plant will, in domestic terms, supply enough energy for 16,000 families, according to an NRG Energy news release.

The electricity is generated by what is referred to in the industry as photons in solar photovoltaic panels that are manufactured by First Solar, a company in California.

When photons strike solar cells in the panel, they are reflected, absorbed or passed through the panel. When they are absorbed, they have the energy to knock electrons loose, which flow in one direction within the panel and leave the panels through transmission wires as electric power, according to a First Solar fact sheet.

Voltaic solar panels generate direct current, and El Paso Electric converts it to alternating current with an inverter for domestic and business use, the power company reported.

Electric power generated at the Roadrunner plant will avoid an annual emission of 27,000 tons of carbon when compared with fossil fuel generation, NRG Energy reported.

The advantages of solar power, zero-emission, sustainable energy, coincident with peak demand and compliant with the state are convincing, said David Crane, NRG president, in an earlier news release.

Release courtesy of the New Mexico Economic Development Department

SANTA FE — The Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) board approved $113,653 in funding during its June meeting to help create 37 new jobs in New Mexico, with an average wage of more than $14.02 an hour.

“The Job Training Incentive Program continues to be a key tool as the Economic Development Department strives to assist local businesses in hiring new employees,” said Economic Development Secretary-designate Jon Barela, whose department administers the JTIP program. “We will continue to promote the JTIP program as the department works toward business retention, recruitment and expansion.”

This month’s JTIP recipients are:

L & M Radiator, Inc. – Las Cruces, NM – A family-owned business which was established in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1957.  The company designs and manufactures radiators and other heat exchangers for industrial, mostly mobile, equipment.  Most of L & M products are produced on a design-build basis for customers.  The manufacturing process includes metal fabrication, copper tube manufacture and assembly of complete heat exchanger units. – $29,968 – 28 jobs.

CFV Solar Test Laboratory, Inc.  – Albuquerque, NM – Is a joint venture of four partners: (CSA-International, VDE Testing and Certification Institute, Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Franuhofer Center for Sustainable Energy Systems), and provides performance, reliability, and safety testing for photovoltaic (PV) modules.  CFV will cooperate with its partners in issuing certification according to North American (UL) and international (IEC) standards. – $36,046 – four jobs.

CIC Photonics, Inc. – Albuquerque, NM – Designs and manufactures sophisticated turnkey gas phase chemistry analyzers for the semiconductor, solar, chemical, petroleum, and environmental-monitoring industries, as well as national laboratories, and universities. CIC Photonics is ISO certified, and its customers are located throughout the world with a 50/50 mix of domestic and foreign client companies. – $17,640 – three jobs.

CPFD Software, LLC.  – Albuquerque, NM – Develops and distributes computer-aided-engineering (CAE) software products across international automotive, chemical, petrochemical and power generation industries.  The company develops and distributes computer-aided software products for industrial applications that require a heavily laden particle flow field using the company’s breakthrough technology, computational-particle-fluid-dynamics, or CPFD®.  CPFD software is used throughout the world by companies like General Motors, Ford, Caterpillar, Mazda, ExxonMobil, Dow Chemicals, Sony, Idemitsu Kosan, and Sandia National Laboratories. $29,999 – two jobs.

About JTIP

The Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP) reimburses qualified economic-based companies for a portion of training costs associated with job creation. The program provides for classroom or on-the-job training, reimbursing an expanding or relocating business for up to 75 percent of a trainee’s wages for as long as six months.   The amount of the award depends on the number and complexity of jobs, the wages paid, and the business location.

To qualify, new or expanding companies must either create a product in New Mexico, or provide a non-retail service with 50 percent of the company’s customer and revenue base outside of the state. The eligible jobs must be full-time and year-round. The trainee must be a new hire to the company and have been a New Mexico resident for at least one continuous year at any time prior to being hired.

For more information on JTIP, visit www.goNM.biz.

Article courtesy of the Las Cruces Bulletin

Bulletin Staff Report

About two dozen Mexican investors will meet with local business owners and industry experts during the Hispano Chamber of Commerce de Las Cruces’ Reverse Trade Mission Friday, March 18, at the Las Cruces Convention Center, 680 E. University Ave.

According to the Hispano chamber, the objectives of the mission are to showcase the potential growth areas in the Las Cruces region to foreign investors; introduce foreign investors to existing businesses in the area and provide an opportunity to expand their product lines and create joint-ventures; introduce foreign investors to entrepreneurs in the Las Cruces region; and to create new jobs in the Las Cruces area.

“This is a first for the Hispano chamber, but it’s an event we plan to hold every year to remind foreign investors of the opportunities our area has to offer,” said Peter Ibarbo, Hispano chamber board member and chair of the chamber’s Economic Development Committee. “We are expecting 25 investors from Mexico to come to the area and tap into local resources and expertise in a mutually beneficial, business-to-business setting.”

Investors will explore local industries related to hotel and tourism development, café and restaurant development, product distribution center development, maquiladora supplier development, alternative energy infrastructure development and real estate development.

The day will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a lunch session for the investment delegation featuring welcoming remarks from John Munoz, Hispano chamber president, and Ken Miyagishima, Las Cruces mayor. Introductions by Las Cruces Economic Development entities will be given by Kevin Boberg of the Arrowhead Center and Christine Logan of the City of Las Cruces Economic Development Department.

A pre-qualified business-to-business session with potential business partners and associates will take place from 2:30 to 5:25 p.m. From 5:30 to 6 p.m., local attorneys will speak on tax and fiscal issues regarding bi-national business activities and business immigration visas.

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce has been invited to give the opening remarks for the 6 p.m. dinner, to be followed by a presentation on the Spaceport America supply chain by Wayne Savage, chair of the Commercial Space Committee for the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce. Odes-Armijo Caster of the Albuquerque- based Sacred Power Co. will talk about solar energy initiatives and developments in New Mexico.

Individual ticket prices are $17.50 for Hispano chamber members, which includes full access to business-to-business sessions and dinner, and non-member ticket prices are $25 for access to the business-to-business sessions only, $35 for business- to-business sessions and dinner and $27.50 for dinner only tickets.

To learn more or to purchase a ticket, call Ibarbo at 621-5240 or email peter@ibarbogroup.com.