AFA wants to be off the grid by 2015

A plan to put a solar power plant on the Air Force Academy that was announced earlier this month is part of a wider initiative to make the military school energy independent by 2015.

Superintendent Lt. Gen. John Regni on Thursday told a meeting of business leaders that the academy will have several renewable energy plants in the coming years. Plans include converting garbage to electricity with a biomass facility and a hydropower plant that would generate electricity from water flowing downhill from academy grounds to Colorado Springs.

"We're going to be a leader in the Air Force in renewable energy," Regni said at the luncheon sponsored by the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce.

The endeavor would put enough electrical generating capacity on academy grounds to power nearly 10,000 homes and would cost as much as $100 million.

Earlier this month, the academy announced that it would pay Colorado Springs Utilities to build a 2-megawatt solar plant near Interstate 25 using $18.3 million. A megawatt is enough electricity to power about 800 homes.

The next step, Regni said, is a $3 million plan to install hydroelectric turbines in water pipes that bring about 70 percent of the city's water through the academy's grounds. The school estimates that could generate 1.3 megawatts.

In the next few years, the academy wants a second solar plant and facility that would ferment food waste generated at the school's dining hall and other garbage to create enough methane gas to fire a 2-megawatt generator.

Farther down the road, the academy would examine using wind turbines to generate as much as 4 megawatts of power. Where to put wind turbines and what those turbines would look like hasn't been figured out.

"The one we're still scratching our heads on is wind power," Regni said.

To become fully energy independent, the school would also use conservation measures during ongoing remodeling and modernization projects.

The academy estimates it would save enough in utility bills to cover the costs of the generating plants in as little as a decade, a report on the plan shows.