The US Army has increased its investments in solar power and is eyeing further opportunities to work with the private sector to develop projects, despite the Trump administration’s skepticism about renewable energy. Michael McGhee, who leads the US Army’s Office of Energy Initiatives, told the Financial Times that installing solar panels at army bases could improve resilience against attacks or natural disasters, and provide cost-effective electricity supplies. “We are required to be ready no matter what the circumstances,” he said. “What we are looking at when we see renewables is a self-resupplying power source.”
President Donald Trump has suggested he is unenthusiastic about solar power, describing it in 2016 as “very expensive”, and his administration’s energy policy has focused on attempts to revive the coal industry. The US military, including the army, has continued to invest in renewable energy, however, including solar power and biofuels, working with private companies to minimize costs.
The army added about 94 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in the fiscal year to September 2016, increasing its total by 59 percent. It said last year that it expected to add about 100MW more in fiscal 2017. Mr. McGhee said the army had been made “acutely aware of the vulnerability of the power system” by the problems at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama when the local power grid was hit by tornadoes in 2011. The base, a center for the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, lost most of its electricity and faced severe disruption to its communications systems.