Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
A solar array project that could provide all the electricity needs for Eastern New Mexico University in Portales received a go-ahead Friday from the ENMU Board of Regents.
On a 3-1 vote, the board approved an agreement with Affordable Solar, an Albuquerque based solar energy company, under which the university would finance, construct and operate a 5-megawatt solar array that Affordable Solar would design and build. That’s according to a memo to the board from Scott Smart, ENMU’s vice president of business affairs.
The cost of building the solar array will be about $6.6 million, but the overall savings, assuming increases in electric rates, would be $1.6 million over 30 years, Smart’s memo stated.
Smart’s memo stated ENMU will seek financing for the project through the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration.
The solar array construction would also include an energy storage system that would keep enough energy stored in batteries to power the university for two hours.
The array would be constructed between ENMU’s University House and State Route 267.
The opposing vote was cast by Regent Phillip Bustos.
Bustos said the 30-year contract with Affordable Solar is “a gamble.”
Ten years down the road, he said, the solar technology may be archaic.
He also wondered whether solar energy is reliable enough to be the primary source of energy for the campus.
The board on Friday also approved use of the New Mexico Public School Insurance Authority to offer vision insurance to ENMU employees in Portales and Ruidoso. A memo from Chancellor Patrice Caldwell to the board stated that the insurance authority uses the current ENMU provider Davis Vision with a similar plan, but premiums would drop from $20.18 a month to $4.94 a month.
In an update to the board, Smart asked whether the opening date for the renovated Roosevelt Science Center could be moved up from September to August, to allow a “more comfortable move-in.”
The science center’s renovation is being financed by $16 million in revenue bonds. The renovations are designed to improve instruction and research opportunities, according to ENMU’s website.
Paul Weir, ENMU’s athletic director, said ENMU Athletics needs a separate master facility plan in connection with ENMU’s overall facility plan. “I want to know where every dollar is spent,” he said, “not just 30,000-foot priorities.”
Jamie Laurenz, vice president of academic affairs, presented plans for 2022 summer programs at ENMU.
He mentioned real estate programs, a choir, an alumni band, open-water scuba instruction and programs for young children and teens, including a class on how to design video games.
The summer program will include reading diagnostics and tutoring, he said, but not remedial math, “although we’re looking at that.”
Regent Trish Ruiz said summer programs should be “very affordable” to counter declining enrollments.
Board President Lance Pyle said the Opportunity Scholarship program approved by the New Mexico Legislature in its 2022 session should be applicable to summer programs.
Jeffrey Long, ENMU’s vice president of student affairs, said 110 more potential students have applied to ENMU this year than last, and more students are being accepted.
The goal, he said, is to have 450 to 500 freshman students on campus in the fall.
ENMU’s website shows a total enrollment of 4,991 students in 2022, compared to just over 6,015 students in 2018.
Recruitment occurs at athletic events and through arts, communications, music and theater programs, Long said.
The lifting of state mask mandates, he said, will allow more recruitment activities at New Mexico high schools.
