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TEES engineers install microgrids for power in Laredo colonia

LAREDO, Texas -- U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar will join the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) and the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) in Laredo Monday (Nov. 19) at 6 p.m. for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Texas Colonias Hybrid Power Project.

The ceremony will take place in the La Presa colonia 10 miles south of Laredo on Highway 83 off Mangana-Hein Road.

TEES researchers partnered with SECO and Xtreme Power Solutions of Kyle, Texas, to provide electric power to residents in border colonias. Engineers with the TEES Texas Center for Applied Technology in San Antonio and Xtreme Power deployed micro-grid systems in these colonias, which do not have electric utilities. The Texas State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) has given a $200,000 grant to help facilitate the first phase of the project.

The project began in May with installation beginning in August. Phase 1 delivered electricity to 12 households in the La Presa community of Webb County. After assessing the effectiveness of solar and wind energy in Phase 1, the team will then provided electrical service to all residents of the La Presa Colonia in the second phase of the project, set to begin in January 2008.

Texas is home to more Colonias (which means "neighborhood" or "community" in Spanish) residents than any other state, with about 2,300 Colonias in Texas housing approximately 500,000 residents. These settlements of land are home to poor, largely Hispanic residents along the 248-mile stretch of the Texas-Mexico border, from Cameron County to El Paso County. The settlements have no sophisticated water and sewer systems, electricity, health facilities, paved roads or safe, sanitary housing.

The micro-grids are designed to enhance the quality of life for people in this area and educate residents on the importance of energy conservation. After the implementation of Phase I, all those using the new micro-grid systems will learn energy conservation measures, concepts, and components that will help families understand the importance of their new service and how to exercise its full potential.

TEES is the engineering research agency of the State of Texas and a member of The Texas A&M University System.

For more information, contact

Author: Lesley Kriewald
lesleyk@tamu.edu

News Story 1627,

Direct page link:
http://tees.tamu.edu/news/1627

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