Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Mario Valencia of Clovis installs a bracket to eventually mount a solar panel in the parking lot of Burns Do It Center. Quasar Solar of Clovis was installing a structure that would provide covered parking for customers with more than 100 solar panels on the top that would provide power for the hardware store. The crew anticipated completing the project sometime today. The project is funded through a USDA grant. See more on the grant on page 11.
CLOVIS - John Burns, owner of the Burns Do It Center hardware store in Clovis, was awarded a $20,000 grant Thursday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Energy for America Program.
The store is putting the grant towards purchase and installation of a solar panel array which will generate more than 65,000 kilowatt hours of energy every year - enough to power six homes.
The grant is part of more than $816 million invested to help rural New Mexico businesses lower energy costs.
Burns anticipated the panels would be installed by Thursday, and hopes to have them operational before the end of the month. He said he heard about the grant from a local solar company.
Businesses that receive REAP funding must be in a city with a population of less than 50,000 and supply a plan to use the funding for energy audits, installation of renewable energy systems or energy efficiency initiatives.
"Developing renewable energy presents enormous economic opportunities for rural America," said Blake Curtis, state director for the USDA. "The REAP program helps ag producers and rural small business owners incorporate renewable energy and energy efficiency technology into their operations, which ultimately creates jobs and helps America become more energy independent."
