Posts Tagged ‘energy’

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.”

The military’s push to reduce its environmental footprint has prompted a multitude of changes, from following commercial practices for increasing the energy efficiency of its buildings to partnering with industry to develop large-scale renewable energy projects on its installations. One recent success has been DOD’s effort to recycle construction and demolition debris. In fiscal 2011, the military diverted 77 percent of its construction debris by relying on several strategies …

The Pentagon’s primary sustainability goals for fiscal 2013 will be to reduce its use of facility energy and to improve the energy security of its installations, according to the department’s fiscal 2012 Strategic Sustainability Performance Plan. To meet those goals, DOD budgeted $1.1 billion for energy conservation and efficiency in fiscal 2013, and will direct almost all of those funds to retrofit existing buildings. One of the chief tools for accomplishing those projects is the Energy Conservation Investment Program, which “DOD is reshaping to support projects that will have a major impact on the services’ energy efficiency and/or security, but that may not be justified under their internal funding strategies …

Marine Corps representatives last week briefed commissioners and planners from Pamlico County, located on the coast of North Carolina, about the possible ways a wind farm could interfere with flight operations at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point. The representatives from Marine Corps Installations East told the county officials that tall wind turbines present a threat of collision to low-flying aircraft and can hamper the use of radar …

The Air Force recorded numerous milestones last year on the way to reaching its goals for conserving energy, increasing its reliance on renewable sources and building sustainable facilities, according to highlights of DOD’s 2012 Annual Energy Management Report. One of the Air Force’s major accomplishments last year was developing a new acquisition process for renewable energy after it formed the Air Force Civil Engineer Center by merging the Air Force Real Property Agency, the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency and the Air Force Center for Engineering and the Environment …

With plans to issue solicitations for three renewable energy projects before the end of the year, after recently releasing requests for proposals for two others, the Army believes it has taken a significant step toward its goal to produce 1 gigawatt of renewable energy at its installations by 2025. At the same time, the Energy Initiatives Task Force — the Army’s one-stop office for implementing large-scale projects at its installations — and the Army Corps of Engineers are evaluating industry responses to the multi-award task order contract RFP issued last year …

With funding expected to be constrained for the foreseeable future, the Air Force Civil Engineer Center increasingly is looking to the private sector to help the service’s installations meet their environmental remediation, renewable energy development and maintenance needs, Center Director Joe Sciabica wrote this week in a commentary. “We can no longer count on consistent and predictable funding to meet our sustainability needs …

“Early communication” between the Air Force and prospective developers about upcoming projects that rely on either enhanced use leasing (EUL) or power purchase agreements (PPAs) is key to ensuring the success of those ventures by reducing the chances that unexpected hurdles will slow their progress. That observation was one of many that resulted from a partnership discussion among Air Force officials, developers and community leaders held last week during ADC’s Installation Innovation Forum in San Antonio …