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TUCSON - Tucson Electric Power says the solar industry in Tucson continues to grow in popularity, and it's just not homeowners turning to solar power, but local ranchers too.

Russell True, co-owner of White Stallion Dude Ranch said he's taking solar power to a whole new level.

"If we could take advantage of what makes Tucson so special, all those hours of sun and help ourselves and do the right thing for the world, it was just win win win all the way around," True said.

Russel said he's been running this solar project for about a month, and says he's using special meters and monitors to keep this 100-year old ranch running on a daily basis.

"One runs our well, one handles all our staff quarters, and the third biggest part of the system runs the main building," True said.

True says this project doesn't run cheap.

"Its about a $600,000 project. TEP roughly pays half, we paid half and then the government incentives kick in overtime," True said.

TEP says the popularity of solar power continues to grow here in Tucson, so they're willing to help out in order to conserve other forms of energy.

"All the solar energy that they're generating means that we have less conventional power that we need to generate," Joe Salkowski said.

Russell True said this project is going to remove a million pounds of carbon dioxide from the air per year.