The Air Force is planning another mega solar energy plant at Nellis, AFB, Nev., already home to the service’s largest farm of solar photovoltaic arrays. Under the new project, the service would construct a 17-megawatt solar farm in 2012 at Nellis to complement the 14.2-megawatt array built there in 2007. In addition to Nellis, USAF officials are planning to build large-scale solar farms at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and Luke Air Force Base, both in Arizona, in the next several years. Davis-Monthan’s 14.5-megawatt array will deliver 35 percent of the base’ energy, while the 15-megawatt solar farm slated to come to Luke could satisfy half of the base’s energy needs. “Sustainable installations provide an operational advantage to our force and, needless to say, we are excited by the momentum in this arena,” said Maj. Gen. Timothy Byers, Air Force Civil Engineer. (Tyndall release)
The Air Force is shoring up its cyber defenses both on and off base for critical infrastructure such as water and electrical power, and industry experts are calling for more, even specialized, dedicated microgrids offsite to support USAF operations in case of a total blackout caused by cyberattacks.
