Military reservation goes green with solar energy
AIR STATION CAPE COD — By the end of this year, the 102nd Intelligence Wing expects to add a 6-megawatt solar array to the growing list of renewable energy sources at the Massachusetts Military Reservation.
And during the next year, the state will pay $1.5 million to audit energy efficiencies at the Upper Cape base and five other military installations across the state, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray announced during an event Thursday inside the Coast Guard's freshly minted hangar, which is heated with an energy-saving geothermal unit.
Energy audits
The state will spend $1.5 million for energy audits of the six military bases in Massachusetts, including the Massachusetts Military Reservation. The money will be used to:
- collect and analyze data;
- assess clean-energy technologies;
- identify energy opportunities and barriers;
- and develop of clean energy proposals and the strategies to implement them.
"There are certainly things that are going on here, the turbines, the work that's been done to date, that I think are leaders," Murray said during a stop at the capped landfill where solar panels are planned.
"I think there's a lot we can learn and build upon. This is certainly a leader, and we want to make sure that continues."
During Thursday's announcement, Murray was flanked by U.S. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., and U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas, D-Mass., as well as Massachusetts National Guard Adjutant Gen. L. Scott Rice, state environmental Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. and other military and state officials.
"You have been leaders here at MMR," Sullivan said. "You have been leaders in that clean energy revolution that is happening across — not only Massachusetts — but leading the way nationally for a better, smarter energy future for this country."
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Daniel Abel said the base has gone from environmental compliance when he arrived in 2007 to getting out ahead.
"That's a big swing," Rice said. "That drives us from being reactive to proactive."
A year ago, Murray signed an executive order that created the Military Asset and Security Strategy Task Force. That group's aim is to make sure that the state's military bases continue their missions at a time when the Department of Defense is looking for ways to make budget cuts.
One of the ways to do that, Murray said, is to make sure bases are being as energy efficient as possible.
The base is an example of the state's efforts in renewable energy, he said.
"We are a national leader, the commonwealth is, in clean energy — creating jobs, being environmental stewards, and we have made energy a key focus in supporting each of our military bases."
Each base will be assessed to see if it can safely provide its own electricity needs in what Murray called a microgrid, removed from the main grid.
Providing a large chunk of its own electricity would give the Upper Cape base the ability to fulfill its role as a shelter during natural disasters, Col. Anthony Schiavi, base executive director, said.
The solar array planned at Massachusetts Military Reservation is expected to save $9 million over 25 years, Capt. Shawn Davis, who is leading the project for the 102nd, said. That project is being paid for by a private company that is leasing the property from the military, he said.
The state is looking at ways that it can help fund some of the energy initiatives not covered by the Defense Department budget, Murray said.
Along with what's already at the base, the Air Force has two turbines planned near PAVE PAWS, its Space Command radar system. Meanwhile, a second solar array and another turbine are under study, Schiavi said.
It's possible that one day renewable energy sources on the base could produce 20 megawatts of electricity, he said.
"To use a football term, this puts us in the red zone for us achieving our goal of energy reliability, energy diversification and energy security," Schiavi said.
Ultimately, the efforts here will help the Defense Department meet its goal of getting 25 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2025, Keating said.
"This is the finest example I can think of," Keating said noting the use of solar, geothermal, biodiesel and wind at the base.
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