USA:

Solar, Wind Overtake Geothermal at DoD Facilities (Federal Times)

Since 1987, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif., has tapped into geothermal wells to produce about 270 MWe of energy annually — enough to power 180,000 homes and making it the largest renewable energy project within the U.S. Defense Department.

But while geothermal energy has been a big part of the Defense Department’s past, tight budgets and difficulties developing geothermal energy mean it will be a smaller portion of the department’s renewable energy future, according to officials, contractors and DoD data.

Nine projects at DoD installations produce geothermal energy, according to the report. In 2011, geothermal energy use accounted for 74 percent of all renewable energy used by DoD installations. But one year later, that fell to 49 percent, according to the DoD energy management report released in early June. The declining share of geothermal energy was driven mainly by a rapid increase in solar, wind and waste-to-energy projects.

The Department of Navy Geothermal Program Office will have a booth at the GEA Expo run in conjunction with the GRC Annual Meeting, Sept. 29-Oct. 2 at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas, Nevada.
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