The U.S. Army revealed last month that it is developing its largest solar-panel plant yet.
The plant is being constructed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, according to Fox Business.
The solar array will take up 155 acres and is designed to provide at least 25 percent of the electricity at the military base.
"We look at renewable energy at our installations as a way to bring a portion of security, so we can operate our critical mission requirements in times when the access to the greater electric grid is disrupted, whether that be through national emergencies or natural disasters," said Amanda Simpson, executive director at the U.S. Army Energy Initiative Task Force (EITF). "Or many of our installations deal with tornadoes or hurricanes, floods, fires earthquakes. We still, as the Army and the National Guard, need to be able to conduct our mission."
The Department of Defense is looking to have renewable energy make up at least 25 percent of its total energy use by 2025, Business Insider reported.
Using solar power could also help the military avoid costs of transporting gasoline to remote locations around the world. In past years, it cost $400 per gallon to move gasoline to bases on Afghanistan.
Simpson said the Army is working with Tucson Electronic Power on the new solar panel plant. Tucson currently provides electricity to the military installation, Fox Business reported.
"The power flows in the substation and connects directly with the transmission line that's bringing power from Tucson 70 miles away and flows into the base's distribution system," Simpson said. "Of course, electrons from a solar array don't look any different from electrons from the coal plant."
Simpson added that EITF will soon begin developing larger renewable energy projects, Fox Business reported.
"We're looking at projects from coast to coast," she said. "Some of them are solar, some of them are biomass. We are also looking at wind."
EITF is currently working on projects in New York, Maryland, Georgia, Alabama, California and Hawaii.
