The Center, officially known as The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation,[1] is a proposed facility designed to test new technologies, particularly renewable natural energy.[1] It was originally to have been located on about 15 square miles near the town of Hobbs in Lea County, New Mexico[2] it was to have been a city with no permanent population.[1][3] Due to the lack of people, The Center was described as a ghost town.[3][4][5][6] Construction was scheduled to start in June 2012, but was cancelled in July 2012.[7][8] Pegasus Global Holdings' decision to build the city arose from their own testing needs.[1][4][9]
| Established | TBA |
|---|---|
| Research type | Applied simulation Unclassified |
| Budget | $1 billion |
| Field of research | Renewable energy |
| Location | Near Hobbs, in Lea County, New Mexico, U.S.A. |
| Operating agency | Pegasus Global Holdings |
| Website | http://www.cite-city.com/ |
The Center, officially known as The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation,[1] is a proposed facility designed to test new technologies, particularly renewable natural energy.[1] It was originally to have been located on about 15 square miles near the town of Hobbs in Lea County, New Mexico[2] it was to have been a city with no permanent population.[1][3] Due to the lack of people, The Center was described as a ghost town.[3][4][5][6] Construction was scheduled to start in June 2012, but was cancelled in July 2012.[7][8] Pegasus Global Holdings' decision to build the city arose from their own testing needs.[1][4][9]
However, Dona Ana County has volunteered to support the project. Leading to a possible revival.
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Design[edit]
The purpose of The Center was to have been to “provide the opportunity for 'end-to-end' testing, evaluation and demonstration of new intelligent and green technologies and innovations.”[1] Because it is a city, The Center’s testing environment would have been more realistic than a laboratory’s.[4] In order to be useful for testing new technologies, The Center would have had functional utilities and telecommunications. The design of the center was inspired in part by Walt Disney World.[3][6] Like Disney, The Center has the “fun stuff” above ground, while the maintenance systems would have been largely underground. The Center’s lack of residents enabled experiments as well. Researchers could have tested potentially dangerous technology, like driverless vehicles, without putting anyone in harm’s way. In addition to addressing safety concerns, The Center would have allowed researchers to experiment with technology that, “for practical, financial, [or] bureaucratic…reasons,”[3] could not be done in an inhabited area.[3]
Location[edit]
In May 2012, Pegasus announced the selection of Lea County, west of the city of Hobbs, as the project location.[10][2] Reasons cited were the availability of land, community support, and existing infrastructure for its choice. The other location finalist was Las Cruces in Doña Ana County.[11] Pegasus said that the new "city" will be modeled closely on the real-life city of Rock Hill, South Carolina. Robert Brumley, Pegasus Global Holdings’ CEO, chose Rock Hill as the model when he saw it from an airplane while flying back to his office from a design meeting about the project, where the participants had discussed the need for a city that combined old and new construction materials and styles and urban and suburban growth patterns.[12]
When the proposal was initially announced, the location for the Center was unspecified but was to be located somewhere in the state of New Mexico.[1][3][6] The Albuquerque-Santa Fe corridor and land near Las Cruces were named as possible locations.[6] The company said it was looking into something close to the Interstate 40/Interstate 25 corridor or the I-25/I-10 corridor to put the facility in close proximity to the national labs, the state's universities and military installations.[13] Pegasus sought to build on public land but had received many offers from owners of private land.[3] Robert Brumley said New Mexico was chosen in part because “the state’s leadership in science and technology, strong university system, national laboratories, military bases, renewable energy resources, developing commercial space industry, motivated work force, and land availability made New Mexico an ideal location for The Center.”[1] The Center will make money by charging the researchers for access and through user fees.[1] Additionally, The Center will sell its surplus of utilities, “such as power generation, water treatment, and wireless infrastructure.”[1] A third source of revenue will be created by subleasing some of the land outside The Center for the construction of an inhabited town for visitors to The Center.[6] Pegasus Global Holdings hopes to begin creating The Center in June 2012 and be operational by June 2014.[3]
In July 2012, Pegasus announced that they were pulling out of the deal because of problems acquiring land. Pegasus is now reviewing proposals for other locations.[8]
Pegasus Global Holdings[edit]
Washington, D.C.-based Pegasus Global Holdings estimates that the cost of construction of The Center will be about 200 million U.S. dollars. It will be one of only a few private companies to have built such a testing site.[4] Pegasus Global Holdings also expects to create 350 jobs with this project, and indirectly create 3,500 more as a result of associated needs.[1][4] The company currently has a Memorandum of Understanding with the State of New Mexico to study the project’s requirements, and plans to conduct a five-month feasibility study.[1] The State of New Mexico, which has already been working with Pegasus Global Holdings for over a year, is assisting with this study through non-financial means.[1][6][13]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Pegasus Global Holdings Announces Plans to Develop World's Largest Tech Testing and Evaluation Center". Pegasus Global Holdings. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ a b Clausing, Jeri (May 8, 2012). "City selected as $1 billion scientific ghost town". MSNBC (Associated Press). Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grunbaum, Mara. "Why Is A Tech Company Building a Ghost Town in New Mexico?". Hearst Communication, Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Czarnecka, Matylda. "Ghost Town To Be Built As A Green Tech Test Bed". AOL Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ Scott, Cameron. "New Mexico will build renewable energy ghost town". Hearst Communications Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f Boyle, Rebecca. "New Mexico Building a 20-Square-Mile Empty City in Which to Test Renewable Energy". Popular Science. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ^ Billion-Dollar Ghost Town Being Built in New Mexico for Self-Driving Car Research
- ^ a b Clausing, Eri (Jul. 14, 2012). "Developers pull plans for New Mexico ghost town". The Desert Sun (Associated Press). Retrieved 2012-07-15. "(Brumley) said the group was pulling out “due to some very complicated and unforeseen issues with acquiring the land.” The deal involved both public and private parcels."
- ^ Parnell, Brid-Aine (May 15, 2012). "Inside the Skynet ghost town built by bunker-based boffins: Brainiacs beaver beneath barren burg called CITE". The Register. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ Badger, Emily (2012-05-23). "America's Most Innovative Neighborhood: 15 Square Miles In New Mexico, Population: 0". FastCompany. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
- ^ Ramirez, Steve (May 12, 2012). "City stung by loss of Pegasus to Hobbs". Las Cruces Sun-News. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ Worthington, Don (May 11, 2012). "Rock Hill is the model for full-scale New Mexico testing lab". The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.). Retrieved 2012-05-15.
- ^ a b Kamerick, Megan (September 8, 2011). "Pegasus Global Holdings plans massive technology testing center in New Mexico". New Mexico Business Weekly.
External links[edit]
