47 Years Ago
The October 24, 1977 Golden Transcript covered a visit by President Jimmy Carter. The President was in town to attend a Western Water Conference, but the Transcript focused on the topic of most importance to Golden: SERI.
Congress had considered 19 locations before choosing South Table Mountain as the site for the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI). Rep. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts was reportedly trying to undermine that choice, meeting with Department of Energy people to engineer ways to decentralize the work.
Rep. Tim Wirth rode with Carter from Stapleton Airport to the conference in downtown Denver. Carter told Wirth he was “pleased” that the Institute would be located in Golden.
“That’s all I wanted to hear from him,” Wirth told the Transcript Monday. “I feel good about SERI staying in Golden,” he said.
At that time, SERI had offices in Denver West and about 50 employees. “Plans call for eventual use of 345 acres on top of South Table Mountain.”
SERI was established during the Gerald Ford administration, located in Golden during Jimmy Carter’s time in office, and was designated a national laboratory by George Bush (the first) on September 16, 1991. According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) website, they now employ “3,675 employees, postdoctoral researchers, interns, visiting professionals, and subcontractors”
Learn more about NREL’s’ history….
Many thanks to an anonymous donor for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of October.
