By Rosalie Rayburn
Journal Staff Writer
SANTA FE— New Mexico's sunny skies and renewable energy-friendly legislative climate have persuaded another solar startup company to plan a manufacturing plant here.
Arnold Leitner, president and CEO of SkyFuel LLC, gave a presentation to state regulators Tuesday outlining plans to build a factory in Albuquerque's Mesa del Sol development to produce solar power generators using a technology developed in Australia.
Leitner launched SkyFuel in 2005 with an office in New York City. He said he is working with venture capitalists in New York and New Mexico to raise "a multimillion-dollar amount" in startup financing to build the factory and corporate office in Albuquerque.
Leitner said he picked Albuquerque because of the laws that encourage utilities to use renewable energy, access to scientific talent from Sandia National Laboratories and opportunities to sell his product to utilities in the sun-rich Southwest.
He said he hopes to have the project running within about five years. When in production, the factory would create 100 to 200 jobs.
Leitner offered no specifics on whether he would lease or purchase land, on the size of the plant or whether he would seek state and local incentives.
His chosen system, Compact Linear Fresnel Reflectors, has roots in technology developed in France in the early 1960s. He said Sydney, Australia-based Solar Heat and Power has tested the technology in a 40-megawatt plant in New South Wales, Australia.
It uses a series of long narrow mirrors laid side by side to capture heat from the sun and reflect it onto a central water-filled chamber. The chamber produces steam that drives a generator.
A field of mirrors capable of generating about 1 megawatt of electricity, or enough for about 800 average households, would be about the length of a football field.
In January, Advent Solar Inc. broke ground for a research, development and photovoltaic-cell factory at Mesa del Sol that could employ as many as 1,000 people in a few years.
In April, a partnership of two Arizona-based companies, New Solar Ventures and Solar Torx, announced plans to build a photovoltaic factory and power plant near Deming.
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