Published March 12, 2010

The U.S. Navy has awarded a $200 million contract to construct solar photovoltaic power plants producing up to 40 megawatts of electricity at Navy and Marine Corps bases throughout the Southwest.

PHOTO COURTESY OF U.S. AIR FORCE
This module array at Nellis Air Force
Base near Las Vegas is currently the
military's largest solar installation.

The Navy contract is the latest development in the U.S. military's move to dramatically increase the use of solar electricity at its facilities across the country.

Separately, Luke Air Force Base in Arizona has announced that it plans to build what may become the largest solar photovoltaic array in the Air Force by December 2011.

The Navy contract, awarded by the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southwest, based in San Diego, will be divided among five companies that will compete to take on individual solar power projects ranging from 1 to 15 megawatts.

 "This contract will enable the Navy and Marine Corps to take advantage of the tremendous solar resource in the Southwestern U.S.," said Nate Butler, team leader of the command's Southwest Renewable Program Office, in a press release issued by the command. "These projects will generate clean energy for our military bases, lower our electricity bills, and help to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels."

The companies sharing in the contract are SunEdison of Beltsville, Md.; AECOM Energy/Solar Power Partners of Mill Valley, Calif.; SunPower Corp. of Richmond, Calif.; SunDurance Energy of South Plainfield, N.J.; and Chevron Energy Solutions Co., a division of Chevron U.S.A. of Eagan, Minn.

The developers will design, construct, own, operate and maintain the systems. They will sell the electricity generated to the Navy and Marine Corps through power-purchase agreements.

"The great thing about a PPA contract is that the government buys power from a solar generation system that is financed, owned and operated by the developer," said Mr. Butler. "The Navy and Marine Corps get green power with no initial capital investment."

Power-purchase agreements are similar to leases, and both types of financing arrangements are increasingly available to owners of homes and small businesses. California, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, Oregon and New Jersey are among the states where solar PPAs or leases are available to the public.

Last fall, Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus set a goal of producing at least 50 percent of Navy and Marine Corps shore-based energy requirements from renewable sources by 2020.

"With the secretary's aggressive goals, it is great to see the Navy, Marine Corps and NAVFAC working in sync to push the boundaries through bold energy initiatives such as this," said Chris Tindal, acting deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for energy. "We need bold, innovative measures, and this initiative that NAVFAC Southwest has taken on will move the Department of the Navy's entire energy program closer to the target."

All of the power produced by the solar arrays is to be consumed by the bases where they are located. The Navy will have five years to establish projects under the contract. Each project is expected to provide up to 30 years of electricity, the minimum working lifetime anticipated from modern solar PV modules.

The first three projects will be in California and are expected to be announced in the spring. Each is expected to be operational within a year after the award is made.

Meanwhile, in Arizona, the 56th Civil Engineer Squadron at Luke Air Force Base said that it is planning to use solar photovoltaic electricity to cut its multimillion-dollar annual electricity bill.

Luke, just west of Phoenix, trains F-16 fighter pilots and maintenance workers. The base uses more than 60 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.

"Currently, the base spends more than $5 million on electricity, and most of the electricity used is not generated in a 'green' way," said 2nd Lt. Christopher Warshaw, energy projects manager for the 56th Civil Engineer Squadron, in a news release.

Mr. Warshaw said solar was chosen because it is an abundant source of energy in Arizona. A photovoltaic array in particular will provide maximum production with the least interference with the base's mission, he said. The array is being planned for a 116-acre site in a floodplain.

When completed, the solar power plant is expected to have a peak power production capacity of 17 megawatts. For most of 2009, the largest photovoltaic power plant in the United States was a 14-megawatt array at Nellis Air Force Base near Las Vegas. Larger non-military solar PV plants have since gone online in Florida and California.

At the Army's Fort Irwin in California's Mojave Desert, a series of solar power plants are planned that would eventually generate from 500 to 1,000 megawatts.

Solar projects have been installed at a rapid rate during the past year at military bases throughout the country. That pace may actually increase as a result of legislation now pending in Congress. More information is available from our story "Massive Utility-Scale Solar Projects Seen on the Horizon."