U.S. Army Garrison Fort Polk in Louisiana is now supported by a 13-MW solar project that was installed on-site. The project was developed to support the Dept. of Defense’s goal to achieve energy resilience.
(Left to right) Kevin Cox, Onyx Renewables Senior Vice President, Origination; Jeffrey Rodgers, U.S. Army Garrison Fort Polk Installation Energy Manager; Scott Pogue, USAG Fort Polk Resource Efficiency Manager; Angie Daoud, Onyx Renewables Chief Operating Officer; Pablo Varela, CRC Innovations Executive Vice President, Energy Asset Management; Brig. Gen. Jason Curl, Commanding General, Joint Readiness Training Center and Fort Polk; Col. J. Adam Barlow, USAG Commander JRTC and Fort Polk; Chris Wilson, Corvias Chief Executive Officer; Denise Hauck, Corvias Department of Defense President; and, Bartosz Wojszczyk, CRC Innovations President, mark the successful completion of a 13-MW power generation project Aug. 5 at Fort Polk, Louisiana, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Corvias, CRC Innovations and Onyx Renewables worked on the project that is expected to generate 17,500 MWh annually, which will meet the electricity needs for 42% of on-base housing (nearly 1,800 military homes). This complements existing energy upgrades at Fort Polk, such as extensive geothermal installations and water-saving devices, which have already delivered over $1 million in annual savings since 2018. This latest investment dedicates $29.2 million toward energy generation, with a total energy upgrade investment of nearly $63 million.
“This is one of the largest solar fields in the military housing portfolio, so we are quite proud of that,” said Denise Hauck, President of DOD at Corvias. “Our Army partner’s goal is to be combat-ready through localized, secure and independent power generation. What we are doing here today will help them move forward in achieving that.”
Bartosz Wojszczyk, President of CRC Innovations, added, “Energy is a strategic imperative to the DOD and the U.S. Army. We are focused on supporting our Army partners through Corvias in delivering energy resiliency infrastructure both on the power generation side and in the overall energy space. The objective is to improve the resiliency of the installation, and to also provide reliable, affordable, and efficient electricity to military families that live on the installations.”
Corvias plans to expand the energy generation capacity by an additional 15 to 18 MW during the next phase, aiming to achieve 100% renewable electricity use for housing. The on-site power generation is planned to be integrated into future microgrid projects to ensure a continuous power supply during outages.