Posts Tagged ‘energy’

A senior DOD official has objected to the proposed route for a 500-mile-long, high-voltage transmission line linking central New Mexico to southeastern Arizona, saying it jeopardizes the mission of White Sands Missile Range. “It should be clearly understood that no other location exists in the United States where it is possible to conduct flight tests of missile systems with these footprint requirements,” wrote Frank Kendall, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics …

The Army so far has secured $1.5 billion in third-party investments in alternative energy across its installations, helping it meet its energy efficiency targets. “We are ahead of the rest of the federal sector in using energy performance contracts,” said Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment …

Officials at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Northern Virginia and Arlington County have been working together to exchange information about energy usage and discuss new initiatives for conserving energy. For the county, the exchange helps officials obtain aggregate data on energy consumption across the region, reported the Army. “Energy is such a vital requirement for community and economic development that it deserves to be planned for …

The Army has agreed to partner with El Paso Electric to acquire a 20-megawatt solar farm at Fort Bliss, making it the military’s largest renewable project to date, the post’s commanding general announced Friday. The $120 million project, which will cover 200 acres and power the headquarters for the 1st Armored Division and much of the eastern portion of the installation, is scheduled to be completed in 2015, Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard, the division and installation commander, told reporters. The partnership also would be the first between the military and a major local utility on a renewable project of this scale …

A solar array under construction at Fort Hunter Liggett, located in Monterey County, Calif., will meet multiple goals for the Army, providing energy security and helping the post become a net zero energy installation. And for local commanders, energy independence will have an immediate benefit. “Prior to the installation of these solar projects, we were susceptible to power outages quite frequently,” explained Bob Roy, a project engineer with the Army Corps of Engineers’ Sacramento District. “That interrupts the ability to train the troops indoors and outdoors …

The Air Force is on track to meet its goal of obtaining 25 percent of its electricity consumption from renewable sources by 2025, officials said last week. Last year, 5.5 percent of the Air Force’s electricity came from renewable energy sources. The service also has trimmed its facility energy intensity by more than 21 percent since 2003, and it remains on track to reach its goal of reducing energy intensity by 37.5 percent by 2020 …

The Air Force’s new energy plan calls for the service to adopt a more integrated approach to energy management, one that will emphasize conserving energy and achieving energy security at its installations. Two initiatives the Air Force is pursuing will help support its new strategic plan — the net zero initiative and the air base of the future …

Federal land management agencies — primarily the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management — have taken multiple steps since the Energy Policy Act was enacted in August 2005 to meet the legislation’s goal of approving projects capable of generating 10,000 megawatts of electricity on public lands by 2015, a new study by the Government Accountability Office found. To date, BLM has approved projects with the capacity to generate 5,450 megawatts of electricity, when counting those applied for after the legislation became law. Since August 2005, land management agencies have approved 25 utility-scale, renewable energy projects — seven wind, 10 solar and eight geothermal …

The federal government is using the $30 million Smart Power Infrastructure Demonstration for Energy Reliability and Security (SPIDERS) Microgrid Project to demonstrate how military bases can benefit from installing microgrids at sites where renewable energy technologies are deployed. The initiative, which is being run by the government in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories, is relying on a three-step program, with each phase extending the project’s scope, reported Your Energy Blog: the first stage already has been implemented at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii; a new 146-kilowatt solar system and 50 kilowatts of wind power were added to the existing renewable sources in place at the installation, and the additions were fully tested in January …

A solicitation from the Army’s Energy Initiatives Task Force to build a 15-megawatt solar plant at Fort Detrick, Md., generated about 100 inquiries and pushed the deadline to respond to the request for proposals back one month to March 28. “This is the first RFP project that’s put out by the Energy Initiatives Task Force,” Army spokesman Dave Foster told the Frederick News Post. “They want to be sure they get it right.”