Navy Goes Back to the Well: Repeat Opportunity at China Lake for Renewable Energy

No news on the Army’s Renewable and Alternative Energy Power Production for DOD Installation solicitation.  The 26 July notice indicated that it will be on the street within the next 15 days, so watch your lanes.  Circle 10 August on your calendars! 

The Air Force and Navy approaches to the Presidential one gigawatt per service goal continue to follow a more decentralized path, although both Services have EITF-like organizations.  The USAF’s Renewable Energy Project Development (REPD) Subpanel vets potential projects and then passes on winners to the appropriate AF agencies for execution. 

The Navy released a Shore Energy Policy in late June to describe how they will achieve their piece of the pie.  The policy defines energy security and is clear on what that means: “Provide reliable, resilient, and redundant mission critical sources to Navy tier I and II task critical assets (TCA) ashore”.   The Navy has had a Shore Energy Policy Board since Oct of 2001, who could fulfill the screening/vetting role .  It is unclear if they are passing out projects, but that being said, in pursuit of their one gigawatt goal, the Navy is going back to the well.  Literally.

The Navy released a sources sought solicitation for “Large Scale Renewable Energy Generation facility at Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake”.  For those not familiar with China Lake, it is the home of the DOD’s largest renewable energy power plant(s), 270 megawatts of geothermal generated electricity.  The four plants are owned by commercial interests.  The Navy is now looking for ideas in the 20-200MW range at China Lake.  The solicitation does not specify a technology.  While we wait on the Army MATOC, go check out the Navy’s offering.  Service the close in target while you wait for the deep battle to begin.  Dan Nolan