News Release

Aug. 22, 2013
NNMC Professor, Student Create App for PNM Solar Project

Albuquerque: Alfredo Perez, a Northern New Mexico Department of Engineering professor, and former graduate student Povi Cruz have created a free app for Android devices that is a new solar energy teaching tool. The app, called The Power of Solar Energy, can be downloaded at http://tinyurl.com/solarpower-nnmc or directly from the Google Play Market.

"We wanted to develop a mobile application to educate the public about electricity generation using solar energy. Also, we wanted to show how the PNM Prosperity Project works. The application was developed for Android devices initially, but we expect to have an iOS version of the app at the end of the current year," Perez said.

The Department of Engineering at the college is a partner in the PNM Prosperity Energy Storage Project, a 500-kilowatt solar installation near Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque, N.M., launched in 2011 to study solar energy. Using batteries and smart grid technology, Prosperity stores energy produced in the morning for later use and is able to compensate for fluctuating energy production that can create problems on the grid as more solar PV is connected.

The college has used data streaming from Prosperity to its campus in Espanola to teach engineering students about data management and has hosted classes introducing hundreds of middle school students to the concept of solar energy.

The Power of Solar Energy app provides basic information about solar energy, the battery storage project and both daily and hourly information about energy output.

"Using simple terminology, the application examines the advantage and disadvantage of solar energy and the need for battery storage. The use of a bonus video provides more of an illustrative approach of PNM's Prosperity Energy Storage Project. What is most phenomenal about the app is the availability to view real-time data generated from the actual site," said Povi Cruz.

Learn more about Prosperity at PNM.com/solarstorage or download the app. Learn more about Northern New Mexico College at www.nnmc.edu or http://engineering.nnmc.edu/

With headquarters in Albuquerque, PNM is the largest electricity provider in New Mexico, serving more than 500,000 customers in dozens of communities across the state. PNM is a subsidiary of PNM Resources, an energy holding company also headquartered in Albuquerque. For more information, visit PNM.com.