Washington (Platts)--17Sep2007

The US Senate is expected to begin debating a bill late Monday that would
require the Department of Defense to use wind, solar and other renewable forms
of energy to meet at least 25% of its electricity needs by 2025. 

     The requirement in H.R. 1585 -- the fiscal 2008 defense authorization
bill for the Army, Navy and other branches of the US military -- would affect
the power use at thousands of facilities around the world. 

     The provision would bar DOD from using "third-party financing"
arrangements to meet the 25% requirement, including energy-savings performance
contracts. 

     ESPCs, which are commonly used throughout the US federal government,
allow agencies to avoid large up-front costs for energy-efficiency projects by
paying private-sector providers for the resulting energy savings. 

     The provision in the bill, though, would allow the Defense Secretary to
waive the 25% requirement if he believes that it is in the "best interests" of
DOD to do so. 

     The 25% requirement would codify a non-binding goal that DOE currently
has to derive 9% of its electricity by renewable sources by 2025. The 25%
provision was spearheaded by Representative Robert Andrews, a New Jersey
Democrat who added it to the defense authorization bill that the House passed
in May.

     Andrews said then that his amendment "would generate a $15-billion market
in the purchase of electricity generated by renewable fuels." 

     The defense bill that the Senate is debating this week also includes
other energy-related provisions, including nuclear-related programs run by the
Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration. 

     In addition, the bill would require the Pentagon to "assess the risks of
projected climate change to current and future missions of the armed forces."

		--Brian Hansen, brian_hansen@platts.com