Come December and the ‘Home of the Fighter Pilot’, Nellis Air Force base for advanced combat training, tactics development and operational testing will combat terrorism of a different sort, Global Warming. Using it’s best weapon, the natural resources (plenty of land and sun), the air force base situated in the Northern state of Nevada will be home to over 70, 000 ground mounted solar panels systems to generate over 15 watts of electricity for its base. In partnership with California based company SunPower, the Nellis Air Force Base will also have power trackers installed to move the panels according to the sun’s position through out the day. This will improve the over all output by nearly 30 percent.
In a Power purchase agreement (PPA), Nellis Air Force Base will the entire set up will be operated by the SunPower for the first ten years while MMA Renewable Ventures, LLC will finance and own the system along with selling power at an agreed rate for the next 20 years. Benefiting more than 12,000 military and civilians who belong to the Air Force, the entire set up will meet 25 percent of the base’s electricity needs. The biggest photovoltaic project in US, it will be responsible to not only fight rising electricity prices but also reducing carbon footprint equivalent to removing nearly 186,000 cars from roads. Via: CNET
