There is a new facility located in Emery County called the San Rafael Energy Research Center that is sure to bring in some businesses to the local area. Castle Country Radio was able to speak over the telephone with Emery County Commissioner Gil Conover to discuss the details about the new center.

Emery County purchased the facility from Rocky Mountain Power with the hopes of developing something that would help the local economy. Since the purchase there have been companies/universities that have shown interest in conducting business or developing projects in the building. “And since we’ve purchased it, we’ve had opportunities come to us right from the start. Brigham Young University a Dr. Memmott there came to Seven County Coalition and says we would really like to work on molten salt technology but we need a place to do that and we need help in getting that done. Seven County said that’s a great idea and Commissioner Sitterud said if all of you think this is a great idea, we’re going to do it and we did,” said Commissioner Conover. County Officials have worked closely with the university to bring in the study to Emery County.

The infrastructure on the building has gotten a facelift and is finished so the building can now be occupied. “We’ve brought in two megawatts worth of power to the facility, with the ability to go to three megawatts. We have a high-pressured gas line into our facility. We have an eight-inch culinary waterline. We have a brand-new sewer line that connects to the Orangeville City sewer system that we just completed a week ago. All the basic facilities needs are in place. All the infrastructure is there at this time,” said Commissioner Conover. The facility has the lab area up and running but they are waiting on some other equipment. Although the molten study is still in the very early stages there is a company that already wants to buy the first ton of molten salt.

Emery County is looking forward to the new facility bringing in businesses to the local area. “I think Emery County would love to see this become an Energy Research Center. Which we research the products that people are trying to prove that it works and then we have property to our north of the facility of 100 acres that we are putting in an industrial park. So businesses can come in and develop it, they can test it at the research center, then they can develop it there in the industrial park and sell it,” said Commissioner Conover.  This is the goal of the county and they do have things in place to get this started at the San Rafael Energy Research Center.