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Engineers at Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.; Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB, Colo.; and the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency at Tyndall AFB, Fla., worked together to bring this six-acre solar array online in 2010. Air Force engineers are aggressively expanding the number of renewable energy projects on installations. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Strengthening partnerships with the renewable energy industry
Posted 6/29/2011
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by Jennifer Elmore
Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency
6/29/2011 - TUCSON, Ariz. (AFNS) -- An Air Force Renewable Energy Symposium, like the one being held here June 28 and 29, provides industry members a chance to learn about opportunities to partner with the Air Force to increase the use of renewable energy on installations across the United States.
This symposium marks the second time the Air Force and industry have come together to engage in an open dialogue and identify productive, affordable methods for maximizing the value of renewable energy on Air Force installations.
"Industry brings unparalleled expertise to our renewable energy efforts, and it is an expertise the Air Force cannot do without," said Debra Tune, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics.
Last year, U.S. Government Accountability Office officials found that all 34 of the DOD's most critical assets require electricity continuously to support their military missions, and 31 of those assets rely on the commercial power grid. Renewable energy lowers the probability that the Air Force will be without energy when it needs it most. Today, the Air Force operates 85 renewable energy projects on 43 bases with 30 megawatts of power capacity. An additional 31 projects are currently underway or slated for construction.
Air Force engineers have made significant headway in the six months since the last meeting, held in Irving, Texas, with the renewable energy industry experts. Following that meeting, Terry Yonkers, assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment and logistics, tasked the Air Force energy team to develop a specific plan to create projects over the next three years that would add 1,000 MW of renewable generation to the Air Force portfolio. Members of the Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency and the Air Force Real Property Agency have worked together to develop the plan.
AFCESA specialists also issued three Requests for Information for small wind, geothermal and small solar projects. More than 60 companies responded.
"We're excited about the response we got for the small wind Request for Information," said Ken Gray, AFCESA's Rates and Renewables Branch chief. "We got good coverage across industry and some good concepts. We're working on pilot demonstrations for vertical axis turbines. We haven't concentrated on those in the past because we knew it was harder to make the economics work."
Geothermal well exploration incurs major costs for the Air Force and energy industry.
"We've had some firms that identified themselves to us that are willing to finance and do some of the well exploration work and will cover the costs," Mr. Gray said.
Over the next three months, Air Force officials plan to issue RFIs to collect information on woody biomass, large solar, and waste-to-energy (municipal solids) technologies.
Air Force engineers currently are working with specialists at the Idaho National Laboratory to drill a well at Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho.
"We've also been very engaged in ground source heat pumps for some time and we continue to make significant effort to develop those and put them into place," Mr. Gray said.
Since the first industry day, AFCESA experts are working with Air Force Research Lab engineers to create a database to document and categorize technologies that need research, development, and evaluation versus those that are fully vetted. Mr. Gray says this effort could be used throughout the DOD.
"Instead of wondering how to get your new technology into the Air Force so that it can be used, we can refine the time that you will spend calling or visiting multiple offices," he told members of industry. "We can direct you to a single office at AFRL that would be your initial starting point."
Air Force officials hope the symposium will help dispel the belief that it's often difficult to do business with the government and is asking industry to identify the contracting roadblocks.
"I can tell you we have the committed senior leadership of the Air Force that can help change that," Mrs. Tune said. "I don't want you to walk away thinking we're never going to get there because we will and we can. We have proven that in the past and we will prove it in the future."
The symposium was hosted by officials with the Secretary of the Air Force Office for Energy; the Office of the Air Force Civil Engineer; Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.; the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group; and AFCESA.
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