Fort Carson’s Power Push

The President’s push in Aurora on Thursday for more renewable energy is already being heard loud and clear on Fort Carson. It’s become a testing ground of pilot projects. Utility Program Manager Vincent Guthrie showed me a satellite dish with solar panels on it. It’s a grand funded program that can power a house.

There’s also a car port that has solar panels on it next to a new building. It helps generate the electricity for the building. Guthrie says by the year 2020, the mountain post will produce as much energy as it uses. Four years ago, I showed you a giant solar array on post that was the 7th largest in the country. Currently that solar array doesn’t even rank as a large one. It generates enough juice to power 540 homes.

The push on post for renewable energy doesn’t stop with solar. Guthrie says there’s a wind power project on the horizon that would generate seven to 10 megawatts of energy. That’s more than double what the solar array currently generates on Fort Carson.

With all the expansion on Fort Carson, the mountain post now has the largest number of energy efficient facilities in our country and the world.