Solar's Growing Role in the US Military

A new report shows solar energy’s growing role in powering military installations and military homes across the US.

As of early 2013, over 130 megawatts (MW) of solar PV are supplying energy to Navy, Army and Air Force bases in at least 31 states and the District of Columbia, says the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

Just as importantly, solar energy is playing an increasingly central role in making the military’s energy supply more secure, more affordable and less reliant on unstable foreign sources. And it is protecting our troops.

In Afghanistan, for instance, US troops in battle zones are using everything from portable solar panels to solar tent shields to cutting-edge, solar-powered security systems to help them successfully carry out critical missions.

 

Although the military buys petroleum for about $1 a gallon, transporting it to Afghanistan bases raises the cost to a mind-numbing $400 per gallon.

Using solar means truck convoys aren’t needed to transport fuel – one of the more common targets of attacks by insurgents or explosive devices. Sadly, over 3,300 people have died from these attacks. 

"Today, the Defense Department is one of the largest institutional users of solar energy in the world," notes Rhone Resch, SEIA CEO. "After using solar energy on military bases and in the field, many returning servicemen and servicewomen are finding great career opportunities at solar firms, which have been actively recruiting veterans.  Many other veterans have started firms of their own."

The Department of Defense (DOD) is the world’s biggest energy consumer, spending $20 billion on energy each year. Last year,  DoD released its Clean Energy Implementation Plan, which will "transform the way" it uses energy. It commits DoD to sourcing 25% of its energy from renewables by 2025. The majority of that will come from solar – about 1.1 GW by 2017.

In terms of power military homes with solar, ProjectStrong is moving ahead with its biggest installation yet – putting solar PV on the rooftops of 6,500 homes at Hawaii bases. The 24 MW project is SolarCity‘s largest to date.

It is also helping Hawaii achieve its goal of using 40% renewable energy by 2030.

The five-year plan is for over $1 billion in solar PV installations at  military housing communities across the US – 300 MW on 120,000 housing units.   

Today, the US has 7.7 gigawatts of solar electric capacity – enough to power more than 1.2 million American homes. 40% of that was installed just last year. The industry employs almost  120,000 people at 5,600 companies, most of which are small businesses spread across every state in the union.

Here’s SEIA’s report, "Enlisting the Sun: Powering the U.S. Military with Solar Energy":