The Texas town of Crosbyton was the chosen site for the Solar Power Project conducted through Texas Tech's Electrical Engineering department. The project was the result of efforts begun in 1974 to find an alternative energy source to slow rapidly rising local utility rates. A 65-foot, bowl-shaped solar dish lined with mirrors and tilted at an angle was constructed to reap maximum sunlight, thereby concentrating the sun's heat and produce temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees F. The heat would be focused onto a receiver that heated water to create steam, and this steam would then be pumped through a turbine, which would in turn produce electricity. Dr. O'Hair, the donor of the materials, was a professor of electrical engineering and was active in the Project.