The Haney Group Forum Biomass Gets A Slice Of Army&r..
Biomass Gets A Slice Of Army’s $7 Billion Renewable Energy Pie10 Years AgoWe’ve been following
the US Army Corps of Engineers’ ambitious $7 billion renewable energy plan, and
it looks like the first round of contracts has concluded with smooth sailing.
The public-private initiative will use Department of Defense properties as sites
for utility scale solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass facilities that will be
built and operated by private companies. DoD in turn will benefit from access
to cheaper, safer, more reliable power. The first three areas were awarded
earlier this year, with biomass bringing up the rear.
Since the facilities
will be built under power purchase agreements, the US taxpayer does not bear
any up-front costs (the figure of $7 billion refers to the value of the
energy). Related Articles
$7
Billion For Renewable Energy
As with the other
three areas, the biomass awards are what DoD calls Multiple Award Task Order
Contracts, which are typically used for engineering and architecture services.
Basically, it’s a way to streamline the contracting procedure by pre-qualifying
bidders, before the actual jobs are identified.
That will depend on
site assessments and analysis for cost-effective opportunities to convert
biomass, including municipal solid waste, to energy. Once the sites are
identified, the next step is for USACE to issue competitive
request-for-proposals to the eligible bidders.
The streamlined
procedure puts the Corps of Engineers in synch with the Army’s new Energy
Initiatives Task Force, a team of experts who have the experience to package
utility-scale facilities at Army bases. That relieves individual base
commanders from having to reinvent the wheel with every new project.
The companies tapped
for biomass including the heavy hitters Honeywell International and Siemens
Government Technologies, along with Acciona Energy North America Corporation,
ECC Renewables LLC, EDF Renewable Energy, Emerald Infrastructure, Energy
Answers International Inc., EIF United States Power Fund IV L.P., Energy
Management Inc., Energy Systems Group LLC, MidAmerican/Clark JV, Pacolet Milliken
Enterprises Inc., and Stronghold Engineering Inc.
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