On Jan. 24, the Pflugerville City Council unanimously approved the sale of 15 acres by the Pflugerville Community Development Corp. to Pecan Renewable Energy Park LLC.

The $2 million sale is the first land sale for the 167-acre Pflugerville Renewable Energy Park. Pecan Renewable Energy Park will be located within Pflugerville Renewable Energy Park.

The 15 acres are expected to be used to build two 120,000-square-foot warehouse and manufacturing facilities that would be leased to potential green-energy businesses working in wind turbine parts production, LED lighting and solar energy. The land would allow for 720,000 square feet of space for development.

PCDC Executive Director Floyd Akers said that, in another deal, the newly formed Renewable Property Group LLC, has agreed to buy 6 acres for $600,000 for the development of up to eight buildings for a total of 48,000 square feet of office space.

The space, he said, will largely be used as a headquarters for Renewable Resource Consultants, which has offices in Round Rock. Renewable Property Group is affiliated with Renewable Resource Consultants.

Akers said the PCDC will rent 2,000 square feet from Renewable Property Group for their own office space use.

Representatives for Renewable Property Group were not available for comment.

"[Renewable Resource Consultants] is a group of engineers in Round Rock that has engineered 50 percent of renewable energy projects in Texas. They engineered the new 380-acre solar array near Webberville east of Austin," Akers said.

Renewable Property Group will begin to build 6,000 square feet of space immediately and ultimately plans to build 43,000 square feet of space, he said.

"[The sale is] pretty significant because what we plan do on this site is to lure clean-energy companies to bring jobs and create products. Having those engineers on-site is great because they do that business," Akers said. "They research and develop new ways to develop wind farms and solar energy."

He said the new development will open up job opportunities for people interested in green-energy careers.

"If you manufacture solar panels, that's where we want you to be. It's high-paying jobs in an industry you can feel good about," he said. "Those are the kind of jobs we want to bring to Pflugerville."

The PCDC kicked off the first part of the planned Pflugerville Renewable Energy Park on Dec. 30 with the unveiling of an electric car-charging station located near the intersection of Toll 130 and Pecan Street that is powered by a solar sail and tied into an electric grid so that cars can be charged day or night.

PCDC officials hope the energy park will eventually house green-energy businesses, a hotel, retail shops and residences.