Dive Brief:

• The U.S. Army isn't buying solar energy because it's a clean and sustainable resource—they're going solar because it saves lives.
• “There is no supply chain vulnerability, there are no commodity costs and there’s a lower chance of disruption. A fuel tanker can be shot at and blown up. The sun’s rays will still be there,” said Richard Kidd, the Army's deputy assistant secretary of energy security.
• The Army announced plans for $7B in renewable projects in May as it looks to install 1 gigawatt of renewable capacity and get to 25% renewables by 2025.

Dive Insight:

It's the same old song—utilities are being left out in the cold as customers big and small plug into other power sources. In this case, it's not about being clean but a different sort of energy independence. Simply, the Army doesn't want to rely on a vulnerable system in combat zones (or anywhere, really).

But the move also makes good business sense for the Army. “If our [current] utility costs are increasing 7 to 15% a year, and our starting point for the [new] system is 2% higher than what we’re currently paying and fixed for 20 years, that’s a pretty decent crossing of the curves,” Kidd said.