Duke Energy and Ameresco are partnering to deliver a floating solar and energy storage system for the US Army at a remote Special Forces training site at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The partners will deploy a 1.1MW solar park on the Big Muddy Lake at Camp Mackall, and a 2MW battery energy storage system to provide seamless transition to on-site generation during utility provider outages.
The system will supplement power from the local grid and provide backup power during electric service outages.
Under the $36m design-build contract, Duke has secured third-party financing to fund construction, and the US Army pays down the financing annually with the utility savings that the project generates over the term of the contract.
Ameresco will also implement improvements to the boiler system, HVAC systems and lighting systems, as well as water conservation systems.
In year one of the performance period, the contract will result in utility cost savings for the Army of over $2m, a reduction in site energy use of 7% and a site water use reduction of 20%.
Construction is slated to start in November.
Ameresco executive vice president and general manager of federal solutions Nicole Bulgarino said: “With one-tenth of the Army housed at Fort Bragg, including Special Operations, Airborne and Global Response Force forces, it is imperative to provide energy security and improvements to the installation’s utility infrastructure.
“We’re eager to get to work installing these energy saving and resiliency measures across Fort Bragg and to support the readiness of the US Army by maintaining a continuous power supply at this critical installation.”
Fort Bragg has the largest population of any military installation in the world with more than 50,000 active duty personnel.