In a move to reduce the excessive consumption of the US military and in particular, the US Army, a brand new solar farm has been installed that covers 12 acres and produces 3200 MWh  of energy annually.
Located at Fort Carson, Colorado, the 2MW installation is one of a number of solar installations that the US Army have implemented.

The solar array at Fort Carson serves more than one purpose. It is used as part of a microgrid for delivering power to facilities, but it also has a large vehicle-to-grid bidirectional charge project to charge batteries on electric trucks the military has at the installation. It reaffirms the US government’s interest and realisation in solar energy. Just the other day, the much anticipated Ivanpah solar field started commercially operating for the first time in the Mojave Desert, near the Californian border.

The Army has also pioneered innovation on the battlefield, by supplying solar to those in conflict in the East and the installation of this solar field is also – of course – geared towards improving military structure.

For example, solar chargers have been implemented and whilst on the surface this seems significant, what it has done is reduce the weight of the batteries by 25% or more and therefore this has enabled soldiers to travel further and under less strain, or the ability to compensate by carrying slightly more thereby increasing the efficiency of soldiers and saving time and money.

However, it is not just the US military that is coming up with many new and advanced ways to extract the power of the sun. All the way over the other side of the Atlantic lies the US ally, the United Kingdom. Here, there are companies such as Genius Energy that have currently taken the UK by storm and have been providing solar panels solutions and renewable energy for many of the UK’s domestic and businesses market.. and have grown exponentially in the process.

In fact, the UK is set to become the main player in solar in Europe this year, overtaking Germany in growth.

The future is looking very bright indeed for solar power!