US Army Wants to Build World's Most Powerful Solar Array

October 7th, 2008 by Ariel Schwartz

Despite its recent foray into sustainable practices, the United States Army isn’t known as an environmental leader. Now the Army is trying to prove its greenness with the world’s strongest solar array. Yesterday, the Army announced that it plans to construct a 500 MW solar thermal plant in the Mojave Desert at Fort Irwin. Currently, the United States’ largest solar array is a 15 MW plant at Nellis Air Force Base outside Las Vegas.

According to yesterday’s press release, the Fort Irwin array will “provide renewable power on the grid and provide the sprawling Army post with added energy security against disruption of power supply.”

Unfortunately, the press release does not specify a time frame for the project. We’re left to wonder if the array is an empty promise meant to quell concerns about the Army’s massive energy consumption.

The Army also announced yesterday that it plans to buy 4,000 electric vehicles for maintenance staff, enter into a pilot energy savings performance contract with the private sector, and develop a 30 MW geothermal project in Nevada.

Photo Credit: Wired









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