DALLAS – The U.S. Army is collaborating with Alabama Power Co. in a public-private partnership to build a 10-megawatt solar energy project at Anniston Army Depot in Alabama as part of its efforts to increase renewable energy use at its installations while cutting energy costs.
Army officials said last week that Alabama Power will develop, finance, install, operate and maintain the 10-MW alternating current facility being built on 90 acres at the depot under a 30-year contract. The plant will generate enough power for about 1,600 homes per year.
The depot project is one of four large-scale P3 renewable energy projects being developed on Army installations in Alabama. Other projects include an 18,000-MW solar project and a 25-MW combined heat and power generation facility at Redstone Arsenal, and a 10-MW solar project at Fort Rucker.
The Anniston plant is expected to be operational by September.
More power P3 projects will be needed for the Army to reach its goal of obtaining 25% of its power from renewable sources by 2025, said Army Secretary Patrick Murphy.
"Public private-partnerships truly have a practical value, because every dollar you can save in one area can be recommitted to spending in other areas," Murphy said. "By reducing overhead costs we can better fund those who are on the front lines." The Army expects to cut energy costs with its first hybrid wind and solar P3 project under construction at Fort Hood in central Texas, Murphy said. The Defense Logistics Agency in November signed a 30-year contract with Apex Clean Energy LLC for 15 megawatts of solar and 50 megawatts of wind power. The solar array will be built on the large base, with the wind power coming from 20 turbines located at Floyd County in the Texas panhandle, 350 miles away.
The Army will pay Apex as much as $497.4 million over the life of the contract, about $168 million less than the cost of power from the traditional electricity grid, Murphy said.
The renewable energy facilities will provide electricity for 40,000 Fort Hood soldiers and their families, the Army said. "For this one project alone we'll save $168 million," Murphy said. "That's enough money to purchase eight Apache attack aircraft. We have to be more efficient, we have to be innovative."
When completed next year, the on-post solar farm will have more than 63,000 solar panels covering an area of 132 acres on the post, equivalent to 10 football fields, said General John Uberti, deputy commanding general of Fort Hood.
"Not only will we gain a sustainable energy source, supplying nearly half of our energy needs, but it will be at a lower price than the power generated by fossil fuels," Uberti said.
The Fort Hood project is just the beginning of the Army's push for renewable energy P3s, said Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary for installations, energy and environment.
The federal government is the largest energy user in the U.S. and the Army is the largest facility energy consumer, she said. In fiscal 2015, the Army's energy bills totaled $1.3 billion.
"When we look at this project that is going to save money across the term of the contract for the Army, that is money that we can put elsewhere, to critical missions, and that's important to us," she said.
The Army has approximately 600 MW of contracted renewable energy projects on line or under development, said Richard Kidd, deputy assistant secretary for energy and sustainability.
