[CPEO-MEF] ENERGY: "Solar Energy Potential on DoD Installations in Mojave Desert"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

News Release
SERDP-ESTCP
January 13, 2012


DoD Study Finds 7,000 Megawatts of Solar Energy Potential on DoD  
Installations in Mojave Desert

The Department of Defense (DoD) could generate 7,000 megawatts (MW)  
of solar energy - equivalent to the output of seven nuclear power  
plants - on four military bases located in the California desert,  
according to a study released today by DoD's Office of Installations  
and Environment. The year-long study, conducted by the consultancy  
ICF International, looked at seven military bases in California and  
two in Nevada. It finds that, even though 96 percent of the surface  
area of the nine bases is unsuited for solar development because of  
military use, endangered species and other factors, the solar- 
compatible area is nevertheless large enough to generate more than 30  
times the electricity consumed by the California bases, or about 25  
percent of the renewable energy that the State of California is  
requiring utilities to use by 2015.

DoD is seeking to develop solar, wind, geothermal and other  
distributed energy sources on its bases both to reduce their $4  
billion-a-year energy bill and to make them less dependent on the  
commercial electricity grid. Such on-site energy generation, together  
with energy storage and so-called smart-microgrid technology, would  
allow a military base to maintain its critical operations "off-grid"  
for weeks or months if the grid is disrupted.

The ICF study looks in detail at the seven DoD installations that are  
located in California's Mojave and Colorado deserts:  Fort Irwin,  
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, the Marine Corps' Chocolate  
Mountain Aerial Gunnery Range, Edwards Air Force Base, Marine Corps  
Logistics Base Barstow, Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center  
Twentynine Palms and Naval Air Facility El Centro. The study also  
looks at two Air Force bases located in the Nevada desert, Creech and  
Nellis.

Most of the surface area of the installations consists of undeveloped  
ranges used for training and other military activities that the study  
finds are incompatible with solar facilities. In addition, using  
detailed Geographic Information System data, ICF ruled out large  
portions of the bases' developed areas because of the presence of  
cultural and biological resources, flash flood hazards and other  
conflicts. For each area that survived the geographic screening  
process, ICF looked at the technical feasibility of six alternative  
solar technologies and at the economic viability under private versus  
military ownership.

The study concludes that 25,000 acres are "suitable" for solar  
development and another 100,000 acres are "likely" or "questionably"  
suitable for solar. ICF assumed that 100 percent of the "suitable"  
land and 25 percent of the "likely" or "questionably" suitable land  
would be developed for solar energy. According to the study, the  
largest amount of economically viable acreage is found at Edwards Air  
Force Base (24,327 acres), followed by Fort Irwin (18,728 acres),  
China Lake (6,777) and Twentynine Palms (553 acres). ICF found little  
or no economically viable acreage on the other California bases  
(Barstow, El Centro and Chocolate Mountain) or the two Nevada bases,  
principally because the military's use of the land is incompatible  
with solar development.

Finally, the study finds that private developers can tap the solar  
potential on these installations with no capital investment  
requirement from DoD, and that the development could yield the  
federal government up to $100 million a year in revenue or other  
benefits such as discounted power.


###

For the original release and links to the report, see
http://www.serdp-estcp.org/News-and-Events/News-Announcements/Program- 
News/DoD-study-finds-7-000-megawatts-of-solar-energy-potential-on-DoD- 
installations-in-Mojave-Desert



--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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