Army Going Solar With 500 MW of Solar Power in Mojave Desert

Written by Ariel Schwartz
Published on August 1st, 2009
5 Comments
Posted in Solar Energy

The Army knows that extensive alternative energy installations are the best way to ensure continuous, reliable electricity production. That’s why the military organization is building the Department of Defense’s largest ever solar project at the Fort Irwin Base in California’s Mojave Desert.

Clark Energy Group and Acciona Solar Power are collaborating on the project, which will use 14,000 acres of land to develop at least 500 MW of solar power by 2022. The $2 billion PV and solar concentrator installation will ultimately produce 1,250 gigawatt hours per year to the base–enough to power over 100,000 homes. As part of the deal, the Army will lease land to Clark and Acciona for the project. In return, the companies will pay with services like paving airstrips and building roads.

This isn’t the military’s first foray into renewable energy. The Army is spending over $1 billion on other renewable energy projects. It also began calculating and reporting its carbon footprint earlier this year.

[Via Greentech Media]

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5 Responses to “Army Going Solar With 500 MW of Solar Power in Mojave Desert”

  1. Bruce Says:
    August 1st, 2009 at 2:12 am

    Is the Army’s carbon footprint calculation public information?

    Recently I saw a TV show about the C5A transport and was astounded by the amount of fuel it used in a single mission. It made me wonder how much it was contributing to greenhouse gases and how relatively unimportant my own attempts to reduce are in comparison.

  2. chrisp Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 11:43 pm

    Why does it take five soldiers to install one solar panel? Such an efficient government we have.

    Maybe now if the Army goes Solar they won’t need as much fuel for the war, which is less money in the enemy’s pocket, so they can’t purchase as many weapons.

    Personally I think we need to get panels on every house in America, power our cars and wide screens with the energy and stop funding both sides of the war.

  3. Dave Says:
    August 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm

    I totally agree, Chrisp. There should be solar panels on every business building, house,car, and piece of land that has no other use in a sunny area. We should not be dependent on foreign oil, but that’s the catch isn’t it. They don’t want us to be independent. They would lose too much money. We have to do this ourselves. If we wait for the government to act, it will be too late.

  4. cdczr Says:
    August 9th, 2009 at 1:00 am

    Solar if definitely the way to go these days. It also seems to be what we need more of for the future.Does anyone know how much the average price per kw a power company will pay on a PPA from a 50 mw solar plant?

  5. How Fort Irwin Just Signed The Largest Solar Farm in Dept of Defense History : CleanTechnica Says:
    October 16th, 2009 at 7:39 pm

    [...] development as doesn’t have the authority to sign 30 year contracts. As recently as August, when we covered the initial proposal, the US Army Energy Program Developer, Kevin Geiss was quoted as worrying that while they had the [...]

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