US Military bases may be moving away from the grid. The process is gradual, as is any large-scale solar installation, but could provide a major boon for the solar energy industry and renewable energy movement altogether.
With more than 1,000 military bases in the United States alone, the Department of Defense’s energy usage amounts to over 30,000 Giga-watt hours (GWH) per year.
While the first steps are small (3 GWH across 3 bases by the year 2025), and expensive (costing about $20 billion in private financing), the potential for increased momentum could be strong, especially with the sloping cost of renewable energy.
The “mix” of energy will come primarily from Solar, wind, and geothermal – and the effort is not intended to make the military more “green”, but rather to reduce the military’s dependence on the grid at critical moments.
(Source: Reuters, 2012)