SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) A Santa Fe restaurant is hoping to generate more than half of its electricity with a new solar photovoltaic parking structure and provide a plug-in power spot for an electric vehicle. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that Tomasita's Restaurant in the Santa Fe Railyard recently erected 210 solar panels that form a 68.67-kilowatt, grid-tied system.
George Gundrey, the restaurant's owner and manager, says the system is designed to produce 85 percent of the restaurant's electricity between the peak power-use hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. But he says he won't know the actual solar power produced until the system has been in use for a while.
The restaurant expects the payoff on the system's $325,000 price tag to take seven years after the tax credit.
