Sun shines on Texas A&M Killeen campus solar farm

KILLEEN – Texas A&M-Central Texas and PPA Partners are partnering in a move to foster innovation and education in the fields of renewable energy and solar technology.

The Center for Solar Energy will include a 50-megawatt solar farm on 500 acres that will be capable of testing 100 different solar technologies simultaneously under the same conditions. An additional 300 acres is set aside for offices and labs.

The attraction for Texas A&M-Central Texas, a four-year-old upper-level institution with 2,500 students, is that it can develop a solar technology curriculum leading to a degree.

The Center for Solar Energy seeks to create a hub of research, evaluation, development and testing of emerging solar technologies in Central Texas.

The center also will have arrangements with regional community colleges, including Austin Community College, to provide real-world training for the next generation of installers and technicians.

Plans for the center include the creation of an 800-acre incubation and demonstration site in Bell County that will house a massive assortment of solar and photovoltaic technologies.

As another benefit, A&M-Central Texas, which is opening its second building next spring, will get free electricity. The solar farm also could sell electricity for up to 20,000 homes.

Construction on the solar center is expected to begin by the end of 2013.

Read more at the Austin American-Statesman and the Killeen Daily Herald.