Pentagon to install rooftop solar panels as Biden pushes clean energy in federal buildings

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department will install solar panels on the Pentagon as part of the Biden administration’s plan to advance clean energy and “reestablish the federal government as a leader in sustainability.”

The Pentagon is one of 31 government sites receiving $104 million in Energy Department grants, which are expected to double the amount of carbon-free electricity at federal facilities and create 27 megawatts of clean energy capacity, while providing more than $361 million of private investment will be utilized. , the Energy Department said.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks and Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, announced the projects Wednesday at the Pentagon.

The solar panels are among a number of improvements for the Pentagon, which will also install a heat pump system and thermal solar panels to reduce reliance on natural gas and fuel oil combustion systems.

Brendan Owens, assistant secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations and Environment, said the projects will improve energy resiliency and reliability at the Pentagon and other military locations in the U.S. and Germany. He called energy consumption ‘central to everything we do.’

Solar panels will provide “an uninterrupted power source” at the Pentagon in the event of a cyberattack or other disruption to the bulk grid, and reduce pressure on the building’s power load, Owens said in an interview.

Because of the Pentagon’s “relatively busy airspace” outside Washington, solar panels were the best option for clean energy, he said. The building is a nationally registered historic landmark, so officials will work with local officials to ensure the panels meet all requirements.

The grant program also includes energy upgrades at Navy bases in Georgia and Washington state, as well as the Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Tennessee.

In addition to the Department of Defense, projects also include the installation of thermally efficient windows at the Energy Department headquarters in Washington, as well as efficiency upgrades for the Commerce and Transportation departments.

Other agencies selected for projects include the Departments of the Interior and Veterans Affairs, as well as the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel Management and the Social Security Administration.

The program will also make the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii a net-zero emissions facility. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration site stopped all measurements and radio transmissions in late November after a lava eruption from the Mauna Loa volcano severed the power line and buried more than a mile of the access road to the observatory. Since November, access to the site has been limited to costly weekly visits by helicopter to collect limited atmospheric data, officials said.

The grant program will install solar panels and batteries at the observatory to make the facility a carbon-neutral site, bring atmospheric science instruments back online and significantly improve the site’s climate resilience, officials said.

“As the observatory is considered the definitive source for documenting the increased atmospheric burden of fossil fuel emissions, this project has the unique ability to eliminate 100% of fossil fuel combustion to make those critical measurements” , the Energy Department said. said.

The funding announced Wednesday is the first of three disbursements expected from the Assisting Federal Facilities with Energy Conservation Technologies, or AFFECT, program included in the 2021 infrastructure bill. A total of $250 million was awarded to the program, which was established in 1992 set up to help agencies reduce energy consumption.

The projects align with Biden’s 2021 executive order, which called for a 65% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from federal activities by 2030 and a zero building portfolio by 2045.

The projects also include the installation of solar panels at the U.S. Army Garrison in Wiesbaden, Germany, as well as energy and water efficiency improvements and solar panels at the Maui Air Traffic Control Tower in Kahului, Hawaii.