The U.S. military forces are adopting more and more solar. Recently, for instance, the the Navy’s Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Pacific signed a contract valued at up to $500 million to purchase solar power from installations that private contractors will install on naval facilities in Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the Army is creating an Energy Initiatives Office Task force to convert to 25 percent renewable energy by 2025. And the Air Force had one of the largest installations in the country, the 14.2-megawatt photovoltaic installation operating at Nellis Air Force Base in California (the 48-megawatt Copper Mountain facility in Nevada is the largest—for now).

A Clean Energy Authority reader asked us a bit more about the Navy’s recent contract in Hawaii. He inquired if the contract had a requirement to purchased U.S.-manufactured solar panels.

“After all, it’s a government-funded base, funded with our tax dollars,” he wrote.

No go. It turns out that under this contract, the contractors are not required to use products made in the U.S.

“There is no requirement in the IDIQ [i.e., indefinite-delivery indefinite quantity] contract that requires the use of U.S.A.-made photovoltaics or inverters. This is consistent with Section 846 of the 2011 Defense Authorization Act, as the government will not acquire ownership of any photovoltaic devices or inverters,” said NAVFAC Pacific spokesperson Don Rochon. “However, this does not preclude future task orders awarded under this contract from requiring the use of U.S.A.-made photovoltaics or inverters.”

Under the contract, the contractors will be able to take advantage of federal incentives that the government can’t really offer to itself.

“The contractors will be able to take advantage of available tax incentives,” Rochon said.

It’s similar to agreements that other federal entities and even local governments have made because they would otherwise be ineligible to directly benefit from the incentives that help reduce the cost of solar power.

In this instance, the Navy is only purchasing the power produced, according to Rochon.

“The contractor will own, design, construct, operate, and maintain the [solar system] over the lifetime of the contract,” he said.

Since the government itself is not actually buying the modules, it’s not requiring that the modules be made in the U.S.

Image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.