by Caleb Fort
Daily Lobo
UNM's investment in a technology company being built at Mesa Del Sol could be a good opportunity to boost the University's profit margins.
Steven Beffort, associate vice president of Facilities Management, said the deal to invest $268,100 in housing Advent Solar, a start-up company that manufactures solar panels, could help pay for scholarships, among other things.
"It could pay for other investments that expand our portfolio that allows us to build new campus buildings," Beffort said.
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On Feb. 14, the UNM Board of Regents approved a 5 percent investment in the company, which will be built at Mesa del Sol.
The investment should have an annual interest rate between 8 and 10 percent, according to the proposal UNM's real estate office submitted to the regents. That means it will produce a profit of about $251,000 over 10 years, according to the proposal.
Advent Solar develops and manufactures solar panels from technology developed at Sandia National Laboratories.
The investment is part of a deal with Forest City Covington, a development company that bought land at Mesa del Sol from UNM. As part of the sale, UNM has the option to invest 5 percent in commercial buildings.
The 5 percent investment is in addition to a 15 percent "carried interest," said Kim Murphy, director of UNM's real estate office. That means the University gets 15 percent of the profits from rent and land sales after Forest City Covington has gotten a reasonable return on their investment, he said.
Groundbreaking for the 87,000-square-foot building was held on Jan. 14, said Greg Barnes, from Advent Solar's sales and marketing department. The facility should begin full production by the end of the year, he said.
Although the investment is a financial deal, helping the company succeed will provide job opportunities to UNM graduates and research faculty, Murphy said.
"It will provide opportunities for employment by highly skilled, trained University graduates. It will provide an opportunity for research faculty to help them further develop their technology," he said. "It's just a real win-win for the economy."
Barnes agreed.
"I think with jobs there's obviously an opportunity for UNM to benefit," Barnes said. "It will bring more high-tech jobs to Albuquerque, and that will be good for graduates."
Advent Solar makes solar panels that are thinner and cheaper to manufacture than conventional panels, Barnes said.
The panels generate more electricity, because the contacts are on the back of the panel and do not block sun from the front of the panel, he said. Having the contacts on the back also makes the panels aesthetically pleasing, because they do not have the grid pattern visible on the front of traditional panels, Barnes said.
The panels can be used for residential or commercial energy.
"As someone who lives in this city, I would like to see a lot more clean energy," he said. "The more that we can regenerate with renewable energy, the better, so we can reduce the pollution everyone here has to live with."
Besides reducing pollution, solar energy allows power generation facilities to be spread out, he said.
"Instead of having one large power plant that takes up a lot of space, you can have a bunch of little solar farms," he said.
Forest City Covington will build the shell of the building, and Advent Solar will be responsible for constructing the interior.
Advent Solar currently leases a building at UNM's Research Park. The new building will include office space and manufacturing facilities.
