The U.S. Department of Defense is planning to open 16 million acres of government land for renewable energy development, including solar, wind and geothermal projects. Experts say the advancements will provide clean power to military bases.
Military officials confirm about 13 million of the total acreage is in the western U.S. where renewable energy projects have already been underway for years.
President Obama has been pushing for renewable energy development by providing funding for technology research and power generation projects. The administrations says the advancements will not only create thousands of jobs, but also provide cleaner and more abundant power.
The military has been very vocal about its support of renewable energy, and says it will help the different branches become more self-sufficient and less vulnerable during battle.
Republicans, however, are critical of the idea and say its reminiscent of the bankrupt Solyndra that they say showed political favoritism and President Obama’s habit of mismanaging public funds.
The military plans to lease the land to developers and then buy some or all of the power from each project for its own use. Each of the military services plan to get at least one gigawatt of renewable energy installed near the various bases by 2025. They say any extra or unused power will be sold to local utilities.