Army Awards Solar Contracts as Part of its $7 Billion Renewable Energy Plan

The US Army awarded contracts to a group of 22 qualified solar technology contractors.

Solar is the second of four technologies being awarded under a $7 billion Renewable and Alternative Energy Power Production for Department of Defense installations program. The first, geothermal, was awarded in May. The remaining technologies – wind and biomass – will be awarded on a staggered schedule by the end of the calendar year.

The companies awarded contracts are:

• Acciona Energy North America, Chicago, Ill.
• Apex Wind Energy Holdings, Charlottesville, Va.
• Borrego Solar, San Diego, Calif.
• Cobra Industrial Services, Houston, Texas
• Dominion Energy, Richmond, Va.
• Element Power US, Portland, Ore.
• Emerald Infrastructure, San Antonio, Texas
• Enel Green Power North America, Andover, Mass.
• Energy Matters, Arlington, Va.
• Gehrlicher Solar America, Springfield, NJ
• Johnson Controls Government Systems, Milwaukee, Wis.
• Lend Lease, Nashville, Tenn.
• LTC Federal, Detroit, Mich.
• New Generation Power, Chicago, Ill.
• NRG Energy, Princeton, NJ
• Photon Finance – SunPower, Mountain View, Calif.
• Siemens Government Technologies, Arlington, Va.
• Silverado Power, San Francisco, Calif.
• Solar Power Ventures, Arlington, Va.
• Standard Solar, Rockville, Md.
• Sunpower, Richmond, Calif.
• Washington Gas Energy Systems, McLean, Va.

These contracts will place the Army one step closer to meeting its congressionally mandated energy goal of 25 percent production and consumption of energy from renewable sources by 2025 and improving installation energy security and sustainability.

The contractors that are qualified through this process will be able to compete for future projects within their approved technology area for any renewable energy projects for the Army or Department of Defense.

In April 2012, the White House announced the Defense Department was making one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history, by setting a goal to deploy 3 GW total of renewable energy – including solar, wind, biomass or geothermal – on Army, Navy and Air Force installations by 2025. The Army's goal is 1 GW of that total.