HARLINGEN — SpaceX is planning to harvest the sun to provide electricity, at least in part, to its planned vertical launch site at Boca Chica Beach.

Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies, through subsidiary Dogleg Park LLC, proposes to place solar panels off-grid on up to 6.5 acres at the project site.

Musk is chairman of SolarCity, a major provider of solar power and panels in California. It was founded in 2006 by two of Musk’s cousins, after Musk suggested the concept for the company to them.

An application submitted July 30 by Dogleg Park to Cameron County asks for a commercial building permit, making it the third building permit filed, to date, with Cameron County in connection with SpaceX’s project here.

The acreage where the solar panels, or arrays, would be placed is in the area of the launch control center, according to the application filed.

SolarCity is the general contractor on the project.

Besides installing the panels on the acreage, panels also would be placed in an area near a security guard booth.

The proposed site is 17 miles east-northeast of the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport and about 5 miles south of South Padre Island.

Dogleg Park now owns about 100 acres of land at Boca Chica. The facilities would be built on 68.9 acres of the property. The remaining acreage would remain open, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s final environmental impact statement on the project.

The most recent application for another building permit came days prior to Gov. Rick Perry’s announcement Monday that the state is offering SpaceX $15.3 million to bring the space exploration firm’s new commercial launch site to Cameron County.

Several action items remain pending before actual construction can begin, such as final approval of local agreements, and obtaining additional required permits.

Perry said that the facility would create 300 jobs and pump $85 million in capital investment into the local economy.

Musk issued a statement, saying SpaceX is excited to expand its work in Texas for the world’s first commercial launch complex designed specifically for orbital missions.

Nick Serafy, chairman of the Cameron County Space Port Development Corp., said “bringing this new, cutting-edge industry to the Rio Grande Valley is very exciting.”

The Space Port Development Corp was established to facilitate development of the aerospace industry in Cameron County,

“We are witnessing the outcome of so many people, throughout the Rio Grande Valley and the State of Texas, having a vision and working together on this project,” Serafy said.

Dogleg Park on July 28 also submitted an application for a permit to install small solar panels off-grid, also in the vicinity of the launch control center. SolarCity is the general contractor listed on that application, as well.

The third application for a permit was made July 29 by the Brownsville Economic Development Council’s Executive Vice President Gilbert Salinas. That permit asks the county for a commercial permit in connection with the BEDC-SpaceX-University of Texas at Brownsville’s STARGATE (Spacecraft Tracking and Astronomical Research into Giga-Hertz Astrophysical Transient Emission) project, for construction of a 12,000-square-foot tracking center.

The contractor of that project is not noted in the permit application.

Eperez-trevino@valleystar.com