Ft. Irwin, California, located in the Mojave Desert, is where the U.S. Army trains recruits in its largest and most comprehensive heavy-maneuver Combat Training Center. It is also the site of NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, where earthbound technicians maintain essential communications with space explorers.

Now, in a display of the Army’s stated intent to achieve five specific goals (lower fuel consumption; increase energy efficiency; implement a renewable energy portfolio; increase energy security; and protect the environment), the Ft. Irwin location is getting a solar makeover which could, eventually, produce up to 1,000 megawatts of clean, renewable solar energy and help the Army meet the latter three of those five goals.

The project, a cooperative effort between Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Energy Group LLC (an affiliate of Clark Realty Capital and Clark Construction Group, of Arlington), an energy solutions company, and Acciona Solar Power, a Spanish renewable-energy developer with U.S. headquarters in Henderson, Nevada, will use a mix of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels and solar thermal technology to achieve said goals.

The Clark/Acciona selection was made by the Baltimore division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the Department of the Army and Ft. Irwin officials. The initial installation, rated at 500 megawatts and producing more than 1,250 gigawatt hours per year, is more than a green initiative though, according to one pundit. It may also represent a rivalry between the various branches of the U.S. military, who are all taking advantage of the Pentagon’s deep pockets in a race toward the “green” finish line.

If so, it can only help spur the development of solar power, which in turn leads to an eventual parity that allows solar (and other alternative energy technologies) to supplant fossil-fuel energy so we can all breathe easier.

It’s a surprising development, given that, in June, the U.S. Air Force blocked an equally large solar thermal project by Solar Reserve near Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada on the basis that the solar installation was too close to the Air Force’s training range.

The estimated cost for this newest project is at least $2 billion, and one source reports that the energy, which the Army has stated will “advance the transformation of Fort Irwin's overall energy security” may not even be used on the base, but sold to California utilities to meet renewable portfolio standards (RPS). The base lies within Southern California Edison’s service territory.

As of November 2008, the largest solar facilities in the U.S. being planned, besides this one, include the 553-megawatt Mojave Solar Park concentrating solar (PG&E); the 500-megawatt Stirling Solar Thermal One (SCE); and the thin-film PV 550-megawatt Topaz Solar Farm (PG&E).