A year-long study conducted by a consultant company on behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense has concluded that four military bases in the Mojave and Colorado deserts could generate 7,000 megawatts (MW) of solar energy.

The potential solar installations could create as much power as seven nuclear power plants. The study surveyed nine bases in all, including two in Nevada, and found that only 4 percent of the bases’ land was suitable for solar panel installations.

But even a comparatively small land investment in solar could generate 30 times more electricity than what the bases themselves consume–and meet 25 percent of the amount of renewable energy the utilities in California are required to purchase by 2015.

That would go a long way in reducing the Department of Defense’s $4 billion-a-year energy bill. The DoD is investing in solar in a big way as well as wind, geothermal and other renewable energy technologies in an effort to reduce their dependence on the grid. Another advantage is that these military bases would be able to continue operations “off-grid” for weeks or months in the case of a widescale grid failure.

The 4 percent of military base land that is suitable (or “potentially suitable”) for development equates to 125,000 acres. By evaluating environmental conditions and other factors, “the largest amount of economically viable acreage was found at Edwards Air Force Base (24,327 acres), followed by Fort Irwin (18,728 acres), China Lake (6,777) and Twentynine Palms (553 acres).”

The Department of Defense may receive up to $100 million a year in revenue, and by using private developers for the solar projects, the installations could be built with no capital investment from the DoD.

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