The U.S. Army has been on a mission to reduce its energy consumption and shift as much of its use to clean sources as it can. That apparently hasn’t happened fast enough, so the service branch has redoubled efforts with the creation of a task force intended to woo private sector investment.

For more than a decade, the armed services have been using large tracts of land on military bases for wind, solar and other clean energy projects. Now, it is moving toward utility scale development that could need more than $7 billion of private sector investment.
John M. McHugh, secretary of the army, announced the establishment of the Energy Initiatives Office (EIO) Task Force at the GovEnergy Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. The EIO Task Force is now operationally.

“We’re looking to work with the private sector, to serve as a one-stop shop to find the opportunities for partnership on a variety of renewable energy programs,” McHugh said.
The Army already has 126 renewable energy projects underway.
“We view ourselves as a target-rich environment to do a better job with taxpayer dollars,” said McHugh during a press conference.

The partnerships would give the private sector a guaranteed customer in the Army and any excess generation would be returned to the utility’s resource base, the proverbial “win-win.”
Currently, about 21 percent of the Defense Department’s energy consumption is from Army facilities.

But the Army has a long way to go to meet its ambitious targets. It now generates about 2 percent of its needs, which translates to 10 megawatt-hours.
For the economies of scale contemplated, the new initiative is seeking big projects of 10 megawatts or larger.

The Army says the new EIO Task Force is integral to the Army addressing rising energy security challenges, escalating fuel prices, and stricter federal mandates.

"To meet a goal of 25 percent renewable energy by 2025, the Army must use every opportunity to be energy efficient and draw power from alternative and/or renewable energy sources," McHugh said.

The scale of renewable energy production the Army needs in order to provide enhanced energy security is estimated to require investment up to $7.1 billion over the next 10 years.  This level of investment is expected to generate 2.1 million megawatt hours of power annually for the Army.

Copyright © 1996-2011 by CyberTech, Inc. All rights reserved.

To subscribe or visit go to:  http://www.energycentral.com