Currently the largest solar array at a military base in at Nellis AFB, Nevada. The Davis Monthan array will be even larger.
Could provide third of Air Force base’s power
By David Wichner
Arizona Daily Star
The Air Force is moving ahead with plans to build a 14.5-megawatt photovoltaic solar array at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
The D-M installation would be the Air Force’s largest in terms of generating capacity, eclipsing a 14-megawatt array that went online at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in 2007.
Construction on the D-M project, initially announced in September 2010, will begin soon with completion planned for no later than December, the Air Force said.
The base has entered into an agreement with California-based solar developer SunEdison LLC to design, finance, build, operate and maintain the array on 170 acres of underutilized base property.
D-M is already home to the largest residential photovoltaic installations in the nation, 6 megawatts worth of solar at D-M’s Soaring Heights Communities base housing complex.
The new array must be built and generating electricity by the end of the year to qualify through renewable-energy credits from Tucson Electric Power Co., said Ken Gray of the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.
Also:
Will Calif. meet its RPS?/Renewable Energy World
Signs of the California Solar Initiative’s Coming End/Renewable Energy World
If interested in discussing energy matters, you can contact Court Rich, director of Rose Law Group’s Renewable Energy Implementation Department, crich@roselawgroup.com
