Solar Power in the Field

Check out this interesting story from GetSolar’s Margaret Collins:

Powering modern warfare is an aspect of defense funding that not many Americans think about on a daily basis. How do you keep communications equipment and tactical devices running in the field? How do you deal with transporting batteries, generators, and enough fuel to run an entire mission off base? A recent article by Brian Robinson in Defense Systems highlights a new technology that will give Marines stationed in war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq a whole new way to keep powered up on the move.

The Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy System (Greens) uses arrays of solar panels and rechargeable batteries to provide an average continuous output of 300 watts, enough to power most of the essential communications and targeting electronics that Marine forces would need in remote locations. It can provide as much as 1,000 watts of power.

While Marines will benefit from this new solar technology, the Navy is actually developing it. The Navy signed a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Agriculture last month to start working on renewable energy and biofuels technology. Strategically, U.S. armed forces would like to be as independent as possible, for obvious reasons; and by 2020, “at least 40 percent of the Navy’s total energy consumption should be from alternative sources”, said Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.

You can read the rest of the post on the GetSolar Blog.