In a green twist for the military, which typically likes to spend money on huge gas-guzzling vehicles, the Army recently promised to build a 500MW solar thermal power plant at Fort Irwin, California. The solar power plant will be a big part of an overall plan to reduce the Army’s energy usage. The solar farm at Fort Irwin will wire into the public grid as well, so that excess energy can be doled out for the local area.

The announcement, made in a recent press release, gave no mention of how the system would be designed, nor which private company would build it. This solar thermal plant – along with other renewable efforts including geothermal, biofuels, and electric vehicles – is the first move made by the Army’s new Senior Energy Council. This council will be, in effect, a board of directors in charge of energy policy, funding, and projects.

This is, however, not the first foray into solar power for the Army. There are currently ongoing solar projects at Fort Sam Houston in Texas, Fort Carson in Colorado, and a PV housing project at Fort Shafter in Hawaii.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted on October 27th in Solar News by Dan.