Otero County will apply for a $20,000 grant from the Governor’s Energy Office that would help pay for a solar and meteorological station to collect data that could be used for large-scale solar projects and area businesses alike.
Bryan Bryant, the county’s economic development coordinator, presented a grant application that was approved unanimously by the Otero County commissioners on Tuesday. The county would match the grant with $13,225 worth of in-kind services, including maintenance of the station, project management and economic development activities and a communications link for four months.
“Otero County is poised to take advantage of its solar resources,” Bryant wrote in the grant application. “We have the potential of providing a link between the solar and wind corridors. With future transmission plans, such as the High Plains Expressway and Eastern Plains Transmission Project, we have the potential of taking advantage of an economic boon that allows for job creation and economic diversity.”
In the grant application’s project abstract, Bryant noted, “This system will be utilized as an economic development tool to provide site-specific data to attract commercial solar power generation to the region and promote job creation within an economically depressed area.”
Otero County is situated in a Solar GDA (general demographic area) as determined by the Governor’s Energy Office. The county would utilize the Solar Technologies Program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for expert advice and assistance on configuring and operating commercially available equipment for a solar and meteorological measurement station. The NREL experts would yield to a private consulting group, though, for monitoring the project.
Bryant said Mark Mehos at NREL has determined Otero County has potential for residential, commercial and utility-scale solar energy production. However, this is based on satellite imaging, which has a reliability of plus or minus 10 percent.
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Otero County will apply for a $20,000 grant from the Governor’s Energy Office that would help pay for a solar and meteorological station to collect data that could be used for large-scale solar projects and area businesses alike.
Bryan Bryant, the county’s economic development coordinator, presented a grant application that was approved unanimously by the Otero County commissioners on Tuesday. The county would match the grant with $13,225 worth of in-kind services, including maintenance of the station, project management and economic development activities and a communications link for four months.
“Otero County is poised to take advantage of its solar resources,” Bryant wrote in the grant application. “We have the potential of providing a link between the solar and wind corridors. With future transmission plans, such as the High Plains Expressway and Eastern Plains Transmission Project, we have the potential of taking advantage of an economic boon that allows for job creation and economic diversity.”
In the grant application’s project abstract, Bryant noted, “This system will be utilized as an economic development tool to provide site-specific data to attract commercial solar power generation to the region and promote job creation within an economically depressed area.”
Otero County is situated in a Solar GDA (general demographic area) as determined by the Governor’s Energy Office. The county would utilize the Solar Technologies Program at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory for expert advice and assistance on configuring and operating commercially available equipment for a solar and meteorological measurement station. The NREL experts would yield to a private consulting group, though, for monitoring the project.
Bryant said Mark Mehos at NREL has determined Otero County has potential for residential, commercial and utility-scale solar energy production. However, this is based on satellite imaging, which has a reliability of plus or minus 10 percent.
