Lessons Learned From 30 Years Experience With Renewable Energy Technologies at Fort Huachuca, Arizona

Fort Huachuca, AZ, located 60 mi Southeast of Tucson, has had over 30 years of experience with various renewable energy systems. This session discusses lessons learned from the successes and failures in that experience, including: an indoor pool solar water heating system (installed 1980); a solar domestic hot water (DHW) system (installed 1981); a grid connected Photovoltaic system (installed 1982); transpired air solar collectors (Solarwalls,™ installed 2001); day-lighting (installed 2001); a 10-KW wind turbine (installed 2002); photovoltaic powered outdoor lighting (installed 1994); a prototype Dish/Stirling solar thermal electric generator (installed 1996); two 30-KW Building Integrated Photovoltaic systems (installed on new membrane roofs in 2009); and a 36-KW Photovoltaic system moved from the Pentagon in June 2009 and became operational November 2009 at Fort Huachuca. Also discussed is an experimental solar attic system (first installed in 2003 and now being fully monitored) that collects hot air in an attic, and via a heat exchanger and tank, produces solar DHW. This paper discusses system design, installation, metering, operation and maintenance, and also work in progress on the installation of commercial, off-the-shelf 3-KW Dish/Stirling solar thermal electric generators and solar thermal/natural gas-to-electric systems at a central plant. Discussions include biogas (methane from a wastewater digester) and biomass (wood chip boiler) being installed at a central heating/cooling plant.