SunDial 28.2 kW mobile solar energy system in Afghanistan
By Gordon Scott and Anusha Narayanan, via the Sierra Club
Over the course of the past half-century, the U.S. military has proven prescient when it comes to developing and implementing new technology. From satellites to microwave technology to the internet to cellular phones, the military has taken the lead on nearly every significant technological advance that has later swept the private and consumer markets.
Now, the military is getting a leg-up on another technology that is poised to lead the next major private-sector revolution – not weapons or communications, but large-scale mobile solar-powered energy systems.
Through a contract with SunDial Capital Partners, the Department of Defense has been implementing a new interface for mobile solar technology. Founded in 2009, SunDial pioneered a system custom-made for on-the-move military operations, harnessing renewable solar energy into a highly mobile unit. With deep military roots, SunDial President Dan Rice, Vice President Keegan Cotton, and Partner Lee Van Arsdale – all three West Point graduates and combat veterans – recognized a unique market for mobile power supply. As energy prices from traditional fuels rise and the military’s dependence on energy continually grows, SunDial envisioned a new application for existing solar technologies for remote locations.
The Department of Defense and U.S. Special Operations Forces saw strong potential in SunDial’s system, and purchased the company’s first operational models. In 2010, Special Operations Forces began the Mobile Solar Power Initiative, testing the SunDial system at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, and later successfully testing models in the field in Afghanistan.
Testifying before the U.S. Congress about the mobile solar initiative, Admiral Eric Olson, then-Commander of Special Operations Command, said the Special Operations Forces community, “inherently joint in all it does, is in a unique position to leverage and apply Service and Department Science and Technology efforts to rapidly field new technologies on the battlefield.” Often located in the most remote areas where fuel must be airlifted to the point of consumption, Special Operations Forces had the greatest need for renewable energy solutions.
“We see mobile solar/battery/diesel hybrid systems as a game-changer globally,” said Dan Rice, President of SunDial. “Oil companies, mining companies, non-profits, disaster-relief agencies, foreign militaries, and anyone operating off-grid can see cost savings and value in converting from diesel only. This is where renewable energy makes the most sense – in remote areas where the current cost of energy is the highest because fuel to remote areas is expensive and logistically challenging.”
SunDial Vice President Keegan Cotton standing in front of a fully deployed system in Tebu, Nigeria
Though the military has been at the forefront of recognizing global climate change as a significant national security risk and taking steps to reduce its carbon footprint, that is not the driving motivation behind these clean-energy innovations. From the military’s standpoint, the main advantage of mobile renewable-energy systems is tactical – energy self-sufficiency improves the effectiveness and mission-readiness of our troops, and makes them safer. For one thing, it reduces dependency on foreign oil which is made into JP-8 (military fuel) and transported across the globe.
Second, it cuts down on the need for costly and dangerous fuel-resupply convoys, allowing operations to reach remote areas previously unsuitable for advanced equipment due to the difficulty of resupplying diesel fuel. This also acts as a ‘force-multiplier,’ freeing up personnel for other tasks and increasing the effectiveness of a set number of troops. SunDial’s Maryland-built systems therefore reduce convoys, save lives and taxpayer dollars, and create jobs in the United States. “It’s a win, win, win, win,” says Rice, who speaks from experience: he was awarded the Purple Heart after being hit by an Improvised Explosive Device in Iraq in 2005.
While the international community, national governments, and the private sector have largely lagged behind in recognizing the benefits of and mobilizing funding for clean energy technology, the military is establishing a strong track record for funding and developing such systems. In addition to SunDial’s mobile-solar units for operations overseas, the DoD is investing in major clean-energy installations on domestic bases. A Navy SEAL program is testing individualized solar-powered gear for troops on the move in an effort to make soldiers net-zero energy and net-zero water use.
If recent history serves as an example, now that the military has invested the up-front R&D funding to carry these nascent technologies through the testing phase and proven their viability, the previously-skeptical private sector will jump on board, finding new civilian applications and making them widely available to a broader market. Once the private sector recognizes that there are similar efficiency and sustainability gains to be made in the civilian arena, SunDial and other solar-energy innovators will be well-positioned to cash in.
In fact, SunDial is already expanding its scope beyond purely military applications. Through contracts with foreign governments and private energy companies, SunDial now has mobile solar units operating in multiple countries on three continents (North America, Asia, and Africa). These units are bringing power to remote locations which have never before been electrified – such as one unit funded by a Chevron project that is powering a new water purification facility in rural Nigeria – replacing extremely dirty diesel generators and providing energy at a fraction of the cost. The emptied containers then become fully-powered, usable space that can serve as telemedicine clinics, internet cafes, corporate headquarters, or even living quarters to house personnel.
Looking ahead, SunDial sees a strong market for its mobile solar units in the contexts of disaster relief, rural electrification, and humanitarian assistance.
Gordon Scott and Anusha Narayanan are with the Sierra Club’s International Program. This piece was originally published at the Sierra Club’s Compass Blog and was reprinted with permission.
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“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.”
I wonder who said that. Must have been a wild-eyed woolly headed hippy from 1968…Maybe a communist sympathizer only interested in harming the national security interests of the US? Maybe some bleeding heart liberal…Oh, wait a minute, it was the successful former Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force and former President of the US, Dwight D Eisenhower.
Please do not promote the military as a necessary advocate of solar or renewable technology. I’m very glade they are making use of the technology but that can all change with a stroke of the pen from congress. Republicans love military spending but they dispise renewable energy. I can remember a time when the military was way behind the civilian world with respect to communications and behind the Soviet Union with respect to important fighting platforms like tanks. And this was during the cold war when the stated purpose of the US led and dominated NATO was to stop a mechanized Soviet invasion of West Germany and Western Europe. It was also during the Vietnam War. Good thing we were only fighting the Vietnamese at the time. I remember when night vision goggles and the Cobra helicopter finally were developed and the Army was still using communications developed during the 1950’s. The military has come a long way since then and it has cost the American people a hefty toll. The new fight against terrorism has galvanized the majority of the American public around the necessity to spend ever more each year on the military in a way that the communist threat and an active war in Southeast Asia never could and most have forgotten President Eisenhower’s caution about the military and the industry that supports it.
PV is in a critical radiative phase. It is filling new niches — like this military mission where electricity is mission-critical and very expensive. Wherever there is no grid or electricity is expensive, PV provides high value.
More people understand this every day.
It’s freaky: The imperial legions tasked with keeping the world safe for petroleum traffic, pioneering mobile renewables . . . Solar power, making it just a weeny micro-hair less crushingly, insanely expensive to be occupying Afghanistan for no good reason . . . Solar panels being helicoptered about by the same military organization that is spending ~$20 billion per year, more than NASA’s whole budget, to air-condition tents in the desert:
http://gizmodo.com/5813257/air-conditioning-our-military-costs-more-than-nasas-entire-budget
Let’s be real: the kind of R&D that goes into this military field tech is not the path to low per-kWh renewables. Never will be. Its relevance to the world’s energy supply is therefore almost nil. The real progress is being made in mass-market applications, not gold-plated, helicoptered-in, cost-no-object military gadgetry. For the US military, which presently accounts for half of the entire planet’s military budget, it’s about supply lines, not affordability.
Let’s look elsewhere for hope. The color of the military is camo, not green. Or maybe there’s a little green in the camo, but only to serve the mission, and the mission, overwhelmingly, is empire, invasion, and destruction.
Larry
@Larry.. Dude, chill, they are helping to boot-strap two industries (bio-fuel too) that have to exist before the priority of the military industrial complex can be changed. Do some research.
The fact that these portable solar systems can be left for the local civilians to have electricity is important. One lesson from Vietnam was the battle for “hearts and minds.” Private industry will not do this unless it can make a profit. These systems can last for years for a good ROI.