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Federally Funded Solar Projects Mounting at Military Sites

At $46.3 million, it’s a miniscule part of the $787 billion stimulus bill.

It’s the sum the federal government has set aside to increase solar power on Navy and Marine Corps bases in San Diego County.

And it’s part of the Defense Department’s continuing push into alternative power, an effort that will also put geothermal equipment at Fort Knox, Ky., and wind turbines at Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

The government began awarding contracts over the summer.

One of the biggest winners in the San Diego area, so far, is Santee-based Synergy Electric, a woman-owned, small business which has pulled in $8.8 million worth of work.

Synergy received a $4.2 million deal in June to replace roofs on seven buildings at Naval Base Point Loma, then put solar photovoltaic power systems on top of them. Work is scheduled to be finished by December.

Many of the Navy projects pay for new roofs to go under new solar panels.

In July, Synergy got a $3.9 million deal to reroof three buildings at Naval Base Coronado and install 133,000 square feet of solar panels.

Synergy also received a $692,000 deal to improve electrical gear on a six-year-old solar power system at the Coronado base.

July was a particularly good month for Stronghold Engineering of Riverside, which received six design-build contracts, worth $19.6 million, for new roofs and solar panels. In addition to Naval Base San Diego, Stronghold will travel to naval facilities “all the way up the coast,” said company executive Charles Gossage. It’s now finishing design work for projects in China Lake, El Centro, Monterey, Seal Beach and Ventura County.

The firm also snagged a $1.9 million contract to build a combination solar array and carport at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in August.

Stronghold has 225 employees, an office in San Diego, and frequent work on the county’s military bases.

Other recent solar power wins went to the San Diego office of Syska Hennessy Group, based in New York City. It got $3 million of work at Naval Air Station Lemoore and Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Ariz.


More To Come

Projects yet to be awarded include twin photovoltaic arrays at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command, or Spawar. The projects, worth $4.4 million apiece, will be awarded in June. A $10.7 million photovoltaic system at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is slated to be awarded in December.

Naval Region Southwest, which encompasses bases in six states, has 78 million square feet of facilities , mostly in California. At peak demand they use 200 megawatts of electricity.

Right now the region generates 1.5 megawatts of electricity using sunlight. The new projects will more than quadruple that capacity, to 6.6 megawatts.

(As a point of reference, NRG Energy’s Encina power plant in Carlsbad produces 965 megawatts by burning natural gas and oil.)

The Navy’s goal is to get 95 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2025, said Bernie Lindsey, the region’s utilities and energy program manager. It’s “a very ambitious goal,” Lindsey says, surpassing federal requirements.

As yet there is no detailed plan to meet that goal. Still, Lindsey said, the region has plenty of renewable resource potential.

As a next step, Lindsey said, the Navy and Marines may have private contractors set up solar arrays of 1 to 5 megawatts on the ground at its California desert facilities. The military would then purchase the power under long-term contracts.

The Navy received proposals for the work in mid-July. Contract awards could come as early as December.

And Navy officials acknowledge there might be more opportunities for solar energy providers , large and small , in the years to come.

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