Army's largest solar array installation

The largest solar power system in the U.S. Army is coming online at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and officials gathered Jan. 16, to mark the occasion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

The Energy Savings Performance Contract, or ESPC, project, awarded and managed by the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, provides the sprawling desert base with a new 4.465 megawatt solar photovoltaic system, guarantees energy savings of 35,358M British thermal units per year, and reduces their energy consumption by 10 percent, said Wesley Malone, Huntsville Center project manager. 

"To date this is the largest solar project in the Army," said Michael Norton, Huntsville Center Energy Division chief. "Projects like this are important because the impact of rising energy prices on installations has resulted in an adverse increase of utility budgets spent on existing, often inefficient or outdated equipment." 

"ESPC projects provide energy efficient equipment resulting in a lower utility consumption," Norton said. "Lower utility consumption reduces the DOD utility bills and assists in meeting federal mandates." 

ESPC brings in private party financing for energy conservation measures at Defense Department garrisons. An Energy Savings Contractor, ESCO, provides capital and expertise to make infrastructure improvements on government facilities to significantly reduce Army energy, in exchange for a portion of the generated savings. In the case of the White Sands solar power system, Siemens Government Technologies, Inc., of Arlington, Va. was selected as the ESCO. 

Along with being the largest solar project, there's another first in how the system at White Sands Missile Range was funded. 

"We used an Energy Services Agreement for the photovoltaic equipment along with the ESPC concept which was a first for the Army,Laser engraving and laser cutter wood, acrylic, plastic, marble," said Will Irby, Huntsville Center ESPC Program Manager.This factsheet discusses electricity generation using wind power generators at your farm or your home. 

An ESA is an arrangement whereby a third party owns, operates and maintains the power generation system and provides electricity to the customer. This third-party ownership mechanism allowed for a significant tax grant from that reduced the project cost by $6.1M, Irby said. 

Siemens was the solar system designer, integrator and is the operator. Their industry team included project construction by Texas Solar Power Company of Austin, Texas, with solar modules and tracking systems by Solaria Corporation of Fremont, Calif., and inverter manufacturer SatCon Technology Corporation of Boston. The project is owned, through the Energy Services Agreement, by Bostonia Group, also of Boston. 

An on-grid solar power generation system of 178 KW, installed at Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) has set precedence as a role model for defining procedures and strategy at the national level for on-grid solar power generation. This project is first of its kind in the country,Perfect pendant lamp is critical to creating a modern home. as the excess electricity will be delivered to the national grid under Feed-In-Tariff regime. 

PEC spokesperson, Mahmood Rehmani told that the project will prove an efWind and solar inverter information and specifications.fective measure to overcome the energy shortage, emphasising on solar power,for which there is big scope with relatively less investment. "We took many initiatives in terms of energy efficiency within PEC". Energy audit of the main building of PEC was conducted and retrofitting was undertaken by replacing heavy lighting fixtureers, using maximum day light by putting clear glass partitions and windows, Mahmood Rehmani said. 

Last year, PEC undertook lighting transformation. LEDs and energy efficient lights were installed to achieve lighting efficiency. The lighting load was reduced from 46KW to only 5 KW through this initiative which saved electricity enough to light 50 houses. The government under PMISP has extended a grant of Rs 75 million to PEC. Under the project,Looking for solar garden light or outdoor lights? PEC is installing 500 watt to 5 Kilowatt stand alone solar power systems at various engineering universities, commercial areas and religious places. 

The aim of the project is to spread awareness and popularise renewable sources of energy in Pakistan. For the purpose, an exhibition and awareness campaign will also be launched throughout the country during the implementation phase.