International technology development firm, Pegasus Global Holdings, have released plans to develop and build what would be the world’s largest technology testing and evaluation center.

Covering 52 square kilometres of open, state-owned land, The Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation, simply dubbed "The Centre", would be a huge scale, fully-integrated testing and evaluation facility for new and emerging technologies.

Ghost city. Image c/o http://myriammahiques.blogspot.com

Designed to represent the current mix of old and new infrastructure found in most modern U.S. cities, The Center will resemble a mid-sized American city down to the detail: houses, roads, suburban neighborhoods and rural communities would all a part of the project.

According to Pegasus, the purpose of the replica metropolis is to provide end-to-end testing, evaluation and demonstration of new intelligent and green technologies and innovations with the goal of determining the direct and indirect benefits and costs the innovations tested would have on our existing infrastructure.

For example, Pegasus reports that the controlled environment would "permit evaluation of the positive and negative impacts of smart grid applications and integration of renewable energies for residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy."

Other technology fields could also benefit from the city sized laboratory: traffic systems, next-generation wireless networks, smart grid cyber security and terrorism vulnerability could all be tested on the site.

“The idea for The Center was born out of our own company’s challenges in trying to test new and emerging technologies beyond the confines of a sterile lab environment,” Robert H. Brumley, Pegasus Global’s CEO said.

“We saw a global need and stepped up to address it. The Center will allow private companies, not for profits, educational institutions and government agencies to test in a unique facility with real world infrastructure, allowing them to better understand the cost and potential limitations of new technologies prior to introduction.""including energy, transportation, telecommunications, security, and agriculture."

What will ostensibly be a man made ghost town, the $189 million project will reportedly derive its revenue from access charges and user fees as well as from the sale of excess utility output, such as power generation, water treatment, and wireless infrastructure.

Pegasus anticipates 350 direct jobs and 3,500 indirect jobs will be created throughout the project. Governor Susana Martinez commented on the economic possibilities that the project could create:

“I am confident this innovative project would provide a great boost to New Mexico’s economy,” said Governor Martinez.

“We are pleased to be able to offer the resources, open spaces, and talented workforce required to make this effort a success. My administration is committed to an ongoing relationship with Pegasus that will allow the Center to thrive and create New Mexico jobs.”

Such an enormous project takes an equal amount of planning and consultation: a Memorandum of Understanding with the State of New Mexico has been undertaken to facilitate the quantification of the feasibility, scope and scale of The Center.

With the assistance of the State of New Mexico, Pegasus and its partners will conduct a feasibility report over the next five months to "analyze all aspects of location, evolution, construction, operation, financial viability and economic impact on the area where The Center may be located."