Photo by Hew Hallock Four sets of photovoltaic solar panels will be used to collect energy from the sun to power a pivot sprinkler on White Mountain Farms near Mosca, owned and operated by the New family.

Sun used to fuel pivot sprinklers



By HEW HALLOCK

MOSCA — Farmers Paul and Ernie New are harvesting more than crops from the San Luis Valley’s 360 days of sun. As of yesterday, they are harvesting power from the sun to run a center pivot sprinkler on their farm near Mosca.

“We’re going to have to start finding energy somewhere,” said Ernie New before flipping the switch on a new photovoltaic solar power system that will produce about 10,000 watts of electrical power.

According to Kevin Goodreau of Direct Power and Water, the company that installed the system, that’s about four times the power needed to run the average household.

The News and five other farms in the San Luis Valley are part of a project spearheaded by the San Luis Valley Resource Conservation and Development Council with funding from a $75,000 Conservation Innovation Grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“This is really a grassroots project conceived by Valley residents,” said Jim Drake, a member of the RC&D Council.

Jim Mietz, coordinator for the RC&D Council, worked with council members to develop the program and obtain the grant funding. The project fit within the grant guidelines because it used farmland not in production - the corners of fields irrigated by pivot sprinklers - and used innovative conservation technology.

On hand for the dedication of the project, U.S. Rep. John Salazar praised the project for it’s potential. “If we want to win the war on terror, this is how we do it,” Salazar said. “This is really the beginning of what I call economic development.”

Salazar noted that for the first time, funding for renewable energy development - to the tune of about $4.5 billion - has been included in the 2007 Farm Bill being considered by Congress.

The solar system on the New’s farm cost just under $90,000, according to Daniel Duffield, an electrical engineer with Direct Power and Water. But through rebates from Xcel Energy, which will cover about half the cost of the system, and tax credits from the government, the cost to the landowner is estimated between $8,000 and $10,000.

While the solar power system could provide electricity directly to the sprinkler, it works in an indirect manner. Through a process called net metering, the system puts power into Xcel power lines, even when the sprinkler isn’t running, building power credits for the farmer. When the sprinkler is on, the power is drawn from the lines and deducted from the built up credits.

The solar power system generates one-sixth to one-fifth of the power needed to operate the sprinkler. That is estimated to be about $2,500 worth of power annually.

Duffield said the system “provides independent, autonomous power that no one can turn off.”