By Geoff Fein
While Congress debates extending tax credits for companies investing in alternative energies and presidential hopefuls talk of a future free of dependence on foreign oil, the Navy has been quietly investing in a number of projects that have resulted in saving the service tens of millions of dollars.
The service, for example, has been using geothermal energy for 21 years at Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) China Lake, Calif. The Navy manages four wells there, two owned by the Navy and two by the Bureau of Land Management, Howard Snow, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy installations & facilities, told Defense Daily in a recent interview.
“Here is an alternative form of energy. The Navy has been producing this. There is enough energy there to light up 180,000 homes on the California grid,” he said. “Because of our partnership with the company out there we are putting money back into Navy coffers.”
The hot spot that runs under China Lake actually runs under a number of other bases, Snow said. “We have already tapped into it.”
For example at Naval Air Station Fallon, Nev., the Navy has already tapped the well. Although the service is not yet producing any energy out there, Snow said it is just a matter of time.
[We] know we can produce and we are moving forward on that contract to start producing geothermal energy…to get the generators turning,” he said.
At Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif., the service is exploring the possibility of tapping into that same hot spot. Snow said there are also plans to do similar efforts at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Calif., in Arizona, the Chocolate Mountains Aerial Gunnery Range near Yuma, and the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif.
The Navy is also working with the Army to tap into a hot spot at the Hawthorne Army Depot, in western Nevada.
“They have come up with the funds to tap into that hot spot, and because of our expertise, they are going to let us manage it for them,” Snow said.
Just off the Hawthorne site, Mineral County has a well that has been closed off and county officials are determining what to do with it, Snow said.
“We are actually trying to maybe make this work for [us and them] at the same time,” he said. “Let’s expand the Hawthorne project for the Army and step off base and see how we can help out because we have the expertise.”
The Navy’s investment in geothermal has showed big dividends, Snow noted.
The Navy invests $5 million to $10 million a year in managing operations of the geothermal plant at China Lake, exploration of additional geothermal resources, construction of solar car ports and roofs, and wind anemometer studies to prove resources on Department of the Navy land for future wind energy developments, he said.
“Geothermal has produced $300 million…that’s in savings. That’s what we are pulling in and using over the years,” he added.
“The geothermal plant at China Lake generates $20 million a year, and these funds are re-invested in operation of the plant, exploration for new geothermal resources, wind energy assessments, solar electric carports and roofs, [Department of the Navy] energy efficiency projects and execution of the comprehensive [Department of the Navy] energy management program,” Snow said.
At Naval Base San Diego, the service has built car ports with rooftop solar panels, that are producing 750 kW of power for the Navy, Snow said. “It’s a good sized parking lot. It covers probably a couple hundred cars.”
The Navy has similar carports with rooftop solar panels at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and Fallon. “The system works. So while we are pulling the profits off of other regional energy projects we can do this,” Snow said.
At Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., the Navy has leased out one of the bases rooftops, Snow said.
The Navy approached a company about maintaining the roof with the additional caveat that if the firm put solar panels on it, the Navy would buy the energy produced.
“So the United States doesn’t have to buy the solar panels, the investor has to, and all he has to do is keep the roof up and in the meantime he can go to the bank, say he has this project and a guaranteed customer,” Snow said.
The project was so successful and unique, not even the chief of the building knew the solar panels were up there, Snow added.
“It’s not your traditional solar panel most of us would have in their mind. It’s laid out flat on the roof. They took these big rolls up there and laid them out,” he explained. “[The chief] assumed that was the roof, but in those rolls were the new solar panels. We tied it right into the building so he is bringing the electrical cost down. We are paying the contractor so we’ve got the roof maintained, he has a guaranteed customer and we are pulling down a renewable source of energy lighting up the building.”
Now the Navy is looking at how to incorporate that concept onto other buildings and hangars, and whether it can be cost effective, Snow added.
One project Snow is very excited about is called Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC).
“As long as there is a 20-degree difference from the surface water to the water below, you can put a fluid in a closed loop and you can get it to heat up,” he said.
The Navy is in Phase III of the effort at the U.S. Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean.
In the case of OTEC, they are using ammonia, he added.
“You bring the cold water up from the surface, heat it up, you can get the salt water to boil so you get steam power. And in this particular case not only do you have power, but since you are boiling salt water, the brine comes out of it so you can have fresh water,” Snow said. “So, at Diego Garcia, not only do we have fresh water but we have power.”
The feasibility study and site survey work was performed by Hawaii-based Ocean Engineering and Energy Systems, International, under the Small Business Innovative Research program (SBIR), Snow said.
“SBIR phase III allows OCEES to submit a proposal to design and construct the OTEC plant if it meets Navy technical and financial requirements. The Navy is reviewing this proposal and has not awarded it yet,” he added.
“We told them, if they build it, we will be their guaranteed customer. So they went out there and got financing from a private entity…private backers. They will build it, we will be their guaranteed customers and OTEC will be up and running,” Snow said. “We are hoping with the success of [OTEC] we can take it to Guam.”
The Navy will be moving 8,000 troops, along with their families and contractors from Japan to Guam. Snow noted it will be an incredible impact on the island-nation.
“If we can get OTEC up and running and prove it, we can move it to Guam and have this renewable source of energy on Guam,” Snow said. “That’s a long term plan for OTEC. As it is now we are moving forward on Diego Garcia. I am very happy with that. I am very excited about the possibilities for that.”
Besides providing fresh water to Diego Garcia, the real benefit, Snow said, is that the Navy won’t have to ship fossil fuels into the middle of the Indian Ocean. “You’ll have a renewable source [of energy]. Granted you are still going to need your back up generators, but this is going to run 24 hours day.”