DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR IS TURNING ON TO RENEWABLE ENERGY 
David Guthrie, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bob Jarcho, Office of Acquisition and Property Management
Interior’s commitment to renewable energy has made the Department a leader among Federal Government agencies in the use of clean, nonpolluting renewable energy technologies.   Managers nationwide continue to implement renewable energy projects, many of which have helped to transform Interior facilities into energy showcases. 

These projects not only meet the energy needs of many of Interior’s 34,000 buildings, but also helped to increase public awareness.  With 380 million visitors a year to its national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas, dams, and other facilities, Interior has the “power” to reach out and educate the public about renewable energy alternatives. 

Educational display on sustainable design at Salinas Pueblo Mission National Monument

In remote areas, where many Interior operations  and activities are located, electric power has historically been supplied by diesel generators or a distant electric grid.  Transporting fuel for diesel generators by ship or over often narrow roadways posed both logistical and environmental challenges.  Electric power lines are expensive and aesthetically intrusive.
Increased interest in finding sustainable solutions that minimize waste and damage to the environment has opened the door to the use of renewable energy in many of the nation’s remote, environmentally sensitive areas.
The National Park Service and the Bureau of Land Management, which together manage hundreds of millions of acres, most in the western United States, have some of the most significant  opportunities for generating electricity from solar powered photovoltaic (PV) energy systems.  The national parks now rely on over 700 PV energy systems to convert solar rays into electricity for power, lighting, and water pumping.   BLM resource areas have almost 300 PV energy systems to support a wide array of applications from electric fences and resource monitoring to water pumping and facility power.  

PV parking lot lighting system

More than 30 PV energy systems in national parks are large applications ranging in output from 5 to 30 kilowatts (kW) of power, enough to power from one to five small homes.  The largest such system is a 160 kW PV array at Dangling Rope Marina in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, Utah.  Electricity from the PV system provides 50 per cent of the marina’s energy needs.  The PV system and a propane power generator have eliminated the need to transport 75,000 gallons of diesel fuel on Lake Powell.  

PV System at Dangling Rope Marina

Several national parks utilize significant PV energy systems to power their remote facilities instead of diesel generators or utility-supplied electricity over a grid.  Those parks include Joshua Tree, Channel Islands, North Cascades, and Canyonlands.  Pinnacles National Monument and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore also use PV energy systems.

PV System at Pinnacles NM

Channel Islands National Park, which has stewardship of five remote environmentally sensitive islands off the coast of Southern California, clearly demonstrates that almost all of it energy need can be met by renewable energy technologies.  The Park uses a variety of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies for which it is nationally recognized.

PV System at Channel Islands NP

Its 64 renewable energy systems include a 29.5 kW PV system and a 21.5 kW wind power system, along with several other energy efficiency technologies.  These systems support a variety of applications -- including remote power, water pumping, resource monitoring and communications -- and have reduced the fueling needs by 94 per cent.  Together these systems displace the use of about 36,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year.

PV System at Farallon NWR

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also continues to be recognized for its leadership in the use of renewable energy.  The agency has five energy showcase facilities recognized by the Department of Energy for their significant achievements in energy and water conservation.  The Service has installed seven geothermal heat pump systems, and an innovative air conditioning/dehumidification system at Cabo Rojo National Wildlife Refuge in Puerto Rico.  Several offshore PV energy systems like the ones at Tern Island National Wildlife Refuge in Hawaii and Farallon National Wildlife Refuge in California were honored by the Department of Energy.  The 6.84-kW PV energy system at Farallon, an island 25 miles west of California’s Golden Gate, provides 90 percent of the refuge’s power needs, eliminating the need for diesel to power the old generator.  The refuge is home to 250,000 nesting seabirds and five species of marine mammals.

The National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, an energy showcase facility and Presidential Design Award contender, is Interior’s leading example of “green” building construction with many passive solar features.

Other Interior bureaus are committed to installing renewable energy projects.  A recent PV retrofit is operational at the Chuuk Finance

National Conservation Training Center

Center in Micronesia. The retrofit consists of  35 kW absorption
chiller refrigeration equipment that generates chilled water.  The system is powered by a solar array consisting of 50 high-performance, flat-plate solar collectors.

The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wildlife Health Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin also uses a large, flat-plate solar collector, which saves 2.9 billion Btu of non-renewable energy annually, equivalent to energy consumed in about 30 homes.

If rooftop solar collectors and wind turbines are not enough, how about “solar walls”?  At the Bureau of Reclamation’s Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Water Treatment Facility, near Leadville, Colorado, a new transpired solar collector (solar wall) preheats about 10,000 cubic feet per minute of outdoor air for the 16,500-square-foot-facility’s ventilation system. It also removes a substantial (and costly) load from the building's conventional heating system. 

Solar Wall at Reclamation’s  Leadville Mine Drainage Tunnel Water Treatment Facility

Despite critical funding limitations, Interior’s energy, facility and field station managers are committed to renewable energy technologies to meet energy needs. They are demonstrating that most renewable energy projects are cost-effective, have relatively short payback periods, and provide an economical source of clean electric power in the field. 

Through numerous partnerships, Interior is able to find financial and technical assistance needed to help increase the use of renewable energy and overcome the technology-related challenges of these systems.  These partners include the Department of Energy, other federal and state agencies, as well as energy service companies, utilities and other private sector organizations.  The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and the Utah State Office of Energy and Resource Planning are three outstanding partners that Interior managers have teamed with in their quest for sustainable, renewable energy solutions.