Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Vandenberg Air Force Base Goes Solar With Major Installation

Vandenberg Air Force Base, which is located in Lompoc, just North of Santa Barbara, has just installed what is the largest, photovoltaic power system in the U.S. Air Force. According to installer SunPower Corp., the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Vandenberg Air Force Base, and Defense Logistics Agency Energy, operations on Vandenberg's 28-megawatt solar power system has just gone live, and will meet about 35 percent of the base's energy needs. The solar power project is the largest Air Force solar project in which the Air Force consumes all of the energy produced, according to the installers. In a statement, Ken Domako, Chief of Portfolio Optimization at Vandenberg Air Force Base, said that "access to reliable, resilient electricity to meet operational needs is a priority for the U.S. Air Force" and that the solar project "enables us to increase our own energy security at Vandenberg". The US military is actually one of the biggest proponents of solar and alternative energy, due to the massive amounts of fuel, electricity, and power required to keep the military running--and the risks recognized by the Pentagon in how climate change may intensity future military conflicts. Vandenberg is best known by those in the technology industry as the West Coast site where SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 rockets into space.