US Military Installs 500 MW Solar Plant

The U.S. military is tackling a new mission in the field of alternative energy, moving to power up a 500-megawatt solar facility at Fort Irwin’s sprawling desert complex in California. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launched its first phase of the project on October 15th, 2009. The project, located at the Army’s largest training range in California’s Mojave Desert, could grow as large as 1 GW in the future.

The companies will finance and build the plant in exchange for leasing of the military land. The project, planned for five sites over 13 years, could cost as much as $2 billion.

The solar power plant is part of the Army’s goal to meet a federal mandate stipulating a 25% renewable energy portfolio for all US government arms by 2025. This new facility at Fort Irwin will surpass the 14-MW solar plant at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada as the U.S. Department of Defense’s largest solar power plant. The new solar plant will utilize both concentrated solar and photovoltaic cell innovation taking advantage of solar thermal’s low-cost and photovoltaic solar’s fast installation.