Friday, July 31, 2009

Solar power as a security application:

The U.S. Army on Friday detailed what it expects to be the Department of Defense's largest solar energy project--a 500-megawatt installation at the Fort Irwin base in the Mojave Desert in California.

The location of the base in the high Mojave Desert, midway between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, is ideal for solar generation, both of the photovoltaic and concentrating kind. There are a number of large solar installations at military camps which have available land and a well understood electrical load.

The Fort Irwin project is the first step in what the Army calls a far-reaching strategy to make energy supply of military installations more secure.

Predictable sunshine and predictable electrical load predictably make a good match. Also, the approach is consistent with the principle that to succeed a new technology has to be deployed in a new market (security), rather than compete on price with established technologies in established markets (commercial energy generation).


via CNet.

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