Posts Tagged ‘renewable energy’

The Air Force will test a new concentrated solar power technology at Edwards AFB, Calif., under a $2.3 million contract awarded to Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR) for a 200-kilowatt solar system. Durham, N.C.-based Semprius will provide PWR 2,400 modules using its high concentration photovoltaic technology. The company’s proprietary technology relies on pinhead-sized solar cells and is significantly more efficient than other photovoltaic systems. If the project proves cost effective, the technology likely would be deployed at other installations, reported Hydrogen Fuel News.

Officials from DOD, the Navy and E.ON Climate & Renewables North America reached agreement this week to allow the developer to construct up to 100 wind turbines at a site located about halfway between Naval Air Stations Kingsville and Corpus Christi in South Texas. The agreement, which calls for Chicago-based ECRNA to provide DOD $750,000 in funding for research and testing into solutions to mitigate potential impacts of the wind farm on military radar, is intended to preserve the two installations’ pilot training missions …

A photovoltaic array being installed at Fort Rucker, Ala., is expected to save the Army thousands of dollars a year and help the installation take a step toward achieving net zero status. The 51-kilowatt array is directly connected to Alabama Power’s electrical grid, so any energy that is generated at Hatch Stage Field that isn’t used can be fed back onto the grid …

Up to 4,700 military homes will be outfitted with solar arrays at Fort Bliss, Texas, and White Sands Missile Range, N.M., starting in January, Balfour Beatty Communities and SolarCity announced this week. The project is the latest phase in SolarStrong, SolarCity’s five-year plan to build more than $1 billion in solar projects at up to 120,000 military homes across the nation. The 13.2-megawatt project is being developed under an equipment lease, primarily financed by Bank of America Merrill Lynch …

Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam will be using a hydrogen fuel cell power system manufactured by Hydrogenics Corp., the Mississauga, Canada-based developer of hydrogen generation and power system products announced last week. The system will integrate Hydrogenics’ power systems, power electronic converters and hardware in an outdoor-housed container to supply 100 kilowatts of power output at the joint Air Force-Navy base in Honolulu …

While pairing standby generators — say, a gas turbine — with wind or solar farms is not financially viable in most markets, it can make sense at military installations, according to an analysis in Aol Energy. “The biggest opportunity to pair standby generators with renewable energy is in small grids,” such as on military bases and islands, the article states. One reason for the exception is the likelihood that locations with small grids are subject to high energy costs …

The Army’s sustainability efforts over the previous two years were highlighted by a number of new initiatives, including the Net Zero program, the Energy Initiatives Task Force, the Senior Energy and Sustainability Council and the Army Sustainability Campaign Plan. On Wednesday, the Army released its 105-page Army Sustainability Report 2012, which features details on those initiatives along with a wealth of data showing the service’s progress in meeting its sustainability goals during 2010 and 2011 in the areas of services and infrastructure, readiness, materiel and human capital …

Expanding their portfolio of renewable energy projects has been a priority for the military services for much of the past decade, but prior to 2011 it still was an open question as to what statutory authorities could support their ambitions. Relying on enhanced use leasing proved problematic as budget scoring rules employed by the Office of Management and Budget consider most public-private ventures to be capital leases, a huge disincentive for the military’s attempt to rely on private sector investment to develop alternative energy plants to supply installations with power. Finally, early last year the Pentagon approved a 3-megawatt landfill gas project at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., that would provide the base energy via a long-term power purchase agreement authorized under 10 U.S.C. 2922a. That February 2011 approval set a critical precedent as previously the department had interpreted the statute as limiting the department’s authority to enter into PPAs of up to 30 years to geothermal projects. Until that point, DOD had limited PPAs tied to other renewables to 10 years, a prohibition which scared away private capital. Another breakthrough occurred in October 2011, when San Jose, Calif.-based SunPower Corp. closed on a 13.8-megawatt solar array at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif., that would be financed by a 20-year PPA. The achievement marked DOD’s first solar plant financed by a long-term PPA under section 2922a, but more significantly, it proved that there is a reliable procurement vehicle that the military services can use to partner with industry to develop large-scale renewable energy projects. “This is a very significant deal,” Robert Tritt, a partner with law firm McKenna Long & Aldridge, told Defense Communities 360 …

California-based Biodico will build a sustainable biorefinery at Naval Base Ventura County, Calif., with a goal of jointly developing renewable fuel and energy technologies suitable for Navy and DOD facilities worldwide. The collaboration is intended to produce biofuel and bioenergy at prices competitive with unsubsidized conventional fuel and power. The privately financed facility will be partially supported by grants from the California Energy Commission. To lower the cost of biofuels, the plant will produce other valuable co-products and byproducts, reported Triple Pundit. Using a microgrid, the project also can provide excess power back to other operations on the site.

The Navy dedicated its largest solar array to date on Friday, a 13.78-megawatt photovoltaic power system at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake that already is generating the equivalent of more than 30 percent of the facility’s annual energy load. The solar plant, designed and built by San Jose-based SunPower Corp., will save the Navy an estimated $13 million over the next 20 years. Most notably, the effort marks the military’s first use of a long-term power purchase agreement …