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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently selected the team of ACCIONA
Solar Power and the Clark Energy Group to develop a massive solar
energy project. The first phase alone consists of five sites over 21
square miles, which will produce a cumulative 500 megawatts (MW) of
power at the Fort Irwin military complex, located in the Mojave Desert
of California, an area with nearly the most hours of sunlight in the
U.S. annually.
In specific, Fort Irwin is located halfway between Los
Angeles, which is approximately 245 km to the southwest, and Las Vegas,
NV, nearly 290 km to the northeast. The base is the U.S. Army`s largest
training ground and also houses NASA`s
Goldstone Deep Space Communications center. This effort is in response
to a federal mandate that requires the U.S. Army to reduce its energy
consumption by 30 percent by 2015 with respect to 2003 levels and to
cover 25 percent of its energy consumed with clean, renewable energy by
2025, which is analogous to the renewable energy portfolio standard for states.
The Fort Irwin project is part of the Army`s "Enhanced Use Leasing"
(EUL) program, which is designed to allow outside partners to acquire
and capitalize on the value derived from under-utilized non-excess real
estate assets on Army and select Department of Defense (DOD)
facilities. The facilities will be installed at five sites, which will
be determined by Army technicians, whom will consider environmental and wildlife impact as well as water resources required by the project.
This will be the DOD’s largest solar energy plant, and ACCIONA Solar
Power and Clark Energy Group`s joint partnership will likely develop
more than the initial 500 MW of solar power in phase one, since
expansion plans allow for up to 1 gigawatt (GW) to be generated in
later years. The project will require numerous concentrating solar power (CSP) solar dishes and more conventional photovoltaic solar panels;
however, the technology options, and subsequently, the manufacturers
have not been determined. It is likely that Stirling Energy Systems,
headquartered in the Phoenix, AZ area, will vie for contention and
possibly be at an advantage for this Army installation, since it is
already is building a similar facility in the Mohave Desert and is a
domestic company with solely U.S.-based manufacturing.
However, ACCIONA is based in Spain and may favor a leading CSP provider
such as Abengoa Solar, which is also based in Spain. In any case, the
14 MW solar plant at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, and the 2 MW
installation at Fort Carson, Colorado, are the DOD`s largest current
solar power generating plants, which will be easily dwarfed upon
completion of this new installation.
The intended clean energy facility is the result of a competitive bid process, similar to many green stimulus grants, which opened in March by the U.S. Army`s Senior Energy Council, a panel created in October 2008 to create a sustainable energy strategy designed to target alternative energy sources for achieving significant energy savings
and enhancing energy security for U.S. Army installations, personnel,
vehicles and other assets. One can only wonder how much the U.S. has
spent on fuel costs to sustain military operations in Afghanistan and
Iraq, primarily supplied by foreign oil. Thus, the military is also
ramping up research funding for ethanol and various forms of biofuels.
It is expected that the first phase will be finished by 2014 and upon
full completion may even be the largest solar plant in the state. Any
surplus electricity produced will be sent to the power grid
for compensation via two high-power transmission lines in the vicinity
of Fort Irwin, while the potential construction of a national smart grid
will only enhance the power generating enterprise of this facility.
What’s more, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law several pieces of legislation, which will facilitate major capital projects of this nature in California in the future including the expansion of transmission lines
on military grounds. In general, California has the most aggressive and
lucrative incentives for clean energy than any other state. Thus,
states such as Arizona,
just on the other side of the Colorado River from California, with many
of the same attributes for similar projects such as solar irradiance
and numerous desert military bases and proving grounds, have not been
on the receiving end of similar high-profile investments due to its
tepid solar energy legislative framework.
Amidst, California’s record-breaking budget deficit, the state has
remained stalwart in approving green building and clean energy
legislation, which is anticipated to spur a Solar Valley akin to
Silicon Valley.
On a national level, upcoming federal legislation such as the U.S. Solar Roadmap Act and Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act,
which may be denoted as climate change legislation, may also germinate
similar military solar plants throughout the country. However, the
media is associating a pending climate change bill strictly as a countermeasure to global warming,
which is being claimed as a false theory based on a recent study of
data over the last decade. Yet, the climate change bill is designed to
not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions
but to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil and to create a new clean
energy infrastructure with a strong manufacturing base that will aid in
economic recovery and lead to sustainable long-term growth. One could
even argue that if Congress followed through with energy reform after
the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act in June, prior to the health care debate, that it would have accelerated job creation faster and improved other economic indicators.
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