DoD "Green"-Lights Massive Investments in Renewable Energy

On August 7, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a long-awaited Multiple-Award Task Order RFP for up to $7 billion in renewable and alternative energy contracts under which contractors will "finance, design, build, operate, own and maintain" green power facilities and sell power to military bases and other federal installations, opening up new opportunities for contractors in the emerging renewable energy marketplace. The RFP comes one day after DoD and the Department of the Interior jointly announced a separate renewable energy push, dubbed the "Renewable Energy Partnership Plan," which will make millions of acres of public lands and offshore areas currently managed by DOI available for utility-scale solar and wind projects, in support of the DoD's goal that each of the military services deploy 1 gigawatt of renewable energy by 2025.