The Air Force is making progress towards the goal of obtaining 1,000 megawatts of renewable energy across its facilities and installations by Fiscal 2016. In Fiscal 2011, six percent of the Air Force's facility energy came from renewable sources of energy, according to the service's newly issued renewable energy
fact sheet. Currently 131 projects at 56 installations are generating 37 megawatts from sources including wind, solar, ground-source thermal, landfill gas, and other methods, states the document. The service has 50 additional projects under construction or awarded that will generate another 19 megawatts; one example is the 14-megawatt, 40-acre solar farm at Nellis AFB, Nev. Over the next 3 years, the Air Force has 21 more renewable energy projects planned that are expected to generate 148 megawatts of capacity, states the fact sheet. The Air Force also has six enhanced-use-lease projects planned for the next three years to generate up to 610 megawatts of additional renewable energy. They include a 15-megawatt waste-to-energy project at Hill AFB, Utah, and a solar farm at Edwards AFB, Calif., that will produce between 350 megawatts and 440 megawatts of energy, according to the fact sheet.