Fort Polk Enhances Military Resilience with 13 MW Solar Power Installation
A Louisiana U.S. Army base serving as home to some of the nation’s most forward deployed combat units is now partially powered with 13 MW of on-site solar energy.
Onyx Renewables has completed construction on the ground-mounted solar installation at Fort Polk in Vernon Parish. Fort Polk is home to the Army’s Joint Readiness Training Center for the 3rd Brigade Combat Regiment, 10th Mountain Division and 115th Combat Support Hospital, each of which was deployed into Afghanistan several times in the past 20 years.
Onyx, working with Corvias, completed the solar arrays earlier this month. The system is expected to be energized this fall, with Onyx financing, owning and operating the systems on a long-term basis.
"Onyx is proud to contribute to on-base readiness at Fort Polk through our partnership with Corvias," Onyx Renewables' SVP of Origination Kevin Cox said in a statement. "By increasing onsite energy capacity with distributed resources, we are not only bolstering crucial resilience across the base but also generating savings that will benefit the military community stationed there."
Several years ago, the U.S. Army announced a long-term climate strategy to include renewables, battery storage and microgrids throughout its installations. This project could expand with battery storage and microgrid controls in the future.
Fort Polk and the military are expecting energy cost savings over the 25-year power purchase agreement term.
The solar array is spread out over one 97-acre parcel and could generate enough power to meet about 40% of the base electricity needs at capacity.
Onyx and Corvias have worked together on other military projects, including distributed generation installation at Fort Riley in Kansas.
The motto at Fort Polk is "home of heroes." The base was constructed beginning in the 1940s and once served as prison camp for captured German soldiers during World War II.