Defense Infrastructure: DOD Needs to Take Actions to Address Challenges in Meeting Federal Renewable Energy Goals
GAO-10-104
Published: Dec 18, 2009. Publicly Released: Jan 25, 2010.
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Highlights
The Department of Defense (DOD) consumes about 60 percent of all energy used at federal government facilities. To encourage an increased use of energy from renewable sources, such as solar and wind power, (1) the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the 2005 Act) directs DOD to consume at least 3 percent of its total electricity from renewable resources starting in fiscal year 2007; (2) Executive Order 13423 (the 2007 Executive Order) directs that an amount equal to half of the statutorily required renewable energy be generated by sources placed into service in 1999 or later; and (3) the 2007 Defense Authorization Act directed that at least 25 percent of electricity consumed by DOD come from renewable sources in fiscal year 2025. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to examine (1) DOD's progress toward these three key goals for consuming renewable energy in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, (2) challenges to DOD meeting those goals, and (3) DOD's plans to meet the goals. GAO reviewed relevant laws and DOD and Department of Energy (DOE) policy, plans, and data; interviewed agency officials; and visited DOD facilities.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To enhance DOD's ability to achieve the renewable energy goals consistent with the need to maximize cost-effectiveness, follow existing federal guidance, and increase oversight of DOD's renewable energy activities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) in conjunction with the secretaries of the services to develop and issue guidance specifying how to accurately report DOD's annual progress toward the 2007 Defense Authorization Act goal, as amended by fiscal year 2010 Defense Authorization Act. Among other things, this guidance should clearly define how the services are to apply the terms "produce" and "consume" to their implementation of the goal and how OSD is to apply the terms to its reporting of DOD's progress toward the goal. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD issued report guidance for its fiscal year 2010 Annual Energy Management Report on August 30, 2010. The guidance includes a section describing the details of whether a renewable energy project counts toward the goals as we recommended.
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| Department of Defense | To enhance DOD's ability to achieve the renewable energy goals consistent with the need to maximize cost-effectiveness, follow existing federal guidance, and increase oversight of DOD's renewable energy activities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) in conjunction with the secretaries of the services to develop and issue guidance to assist the services in determining how to balance the use of land for renewable projects with their installations' primary missions, thereby assisting installation commanders and potential investors in knowing which land on the installations may be available for renewable energy projects, consistent with the installations' mission capabilities. |
Closed – Implemented
OSD took action to implement this recommendation in its current 2012 Annual Energy Report.
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| Department of Defense | To enhance DOD's ability to achieve the renewable energy goals consistent with the need to maximize cost-effectiveness, follow existing federal guidance, and increase oversight of DOD's renewable energy activities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) in conjunction with the secretaries of the services to facilitate the successful implementation of alternative financing approaches and help ensure that DOD can maximize its opportunities for completing cost-effective renewable energy projects by (1) determining the adequate number of energy managers, contracting officials, and other officials with the necessary expertise to administer these complex transactions and (2) determining and providing the appropriate level of training to these employees. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD agrees that sufficient personnel with adequate training are required, but believes it is a component responsibility. However, since our report was issued, each of the services has met the intent our recommendation by establishing central energy offices to provide the expertise needed for large renewable energy projects. For example, the Army Energy Initiatives Task Force (EITF), now serves as the central management office for partnering with Army installations to implement cost-effective, large-scale renewable energy projects, and leveraging private sector financing.
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| Department of Defense | To enhance DOD's ability to achieve the renewable energy goals consistent with the need to maximize cost-effectiveness, follow existing federal guidance, and increase oversight of DOD's renewable energy activities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) in conjunction with the secretaries of the services to develop a long-term, DOD-wide plan to assist DOD in effectively and efficiently meeting the renewable energy goals over the long term. At a minimum, this plan should identify key challenges--such as the higher price of renewable energy compared with conventional energy and volatility in renewable energy certificate markets--that DOD faces in meeting the goals and ways to mitigate those challenges. The plan should also coordinate the services' renewable energy activities, contain realistic performance measures for DOD and the services so that OSD can accurately assess annual progress, and align DOD's resources in pursuit of the renewable energy goals. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD now has a Master Plan that was established and reported in the Fiscal Year 2011 Annual Energy Management Report dated June 2013. The Energy Performance Master Plan aligns investments to energy objectives, enables consistent Department-wide decisionmaking, and establishes metrics to evaluate the Department of Defense?s progress against the energy performance goals.
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| Department of Defense | To enhance DOD's ability to achieve the renewable energy goals consistent with the need to maximize cost-effectiveness, follow existing federal guidance, and increase oversight of DOD's renewable energy activities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition, Technology and Logistics) in conjunction with the secretaries of the services to develop information systems or processes that will enable OSD to have visibility over DOD renewable energy projects, allow the services to monitor and coordinate the services' consumption of renewable energy, and guide DOD toward achievement of the renewable energy goals. |
Closed – Implemented
DOD issued its Fiscal Year 2012 Department of Defense Annual Energy Management Report in June 2013 and building upon past reports it now includes detailed information about renewable energy projects for each of the services. For example, the report includes appendices listing energy projects funded by appropriations; non-governmental third party funded energy projects; military construction projects incorporating energy efficiency standards; and military construction renewable energy initiatives. In addition, in April 2013, the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (I&E) issued an updated policy on the metering of DOD facilities. In addition to increasing the amount of energy that must be captured on building?]level meters, the policy will help ensure that installed meters can automatically and securely deliver data to energy professionals in the field and at all levels of the Department. DOD has implemented our recommendation by developing a process to capture renewable energy projects and key information about these projects. These detailed listings are now provided in their Annual Energy Management Reports.
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Topics
Data collectionElectric energyElectricity demandEnergyEnergy auditingEnergy consumptionEnergy demandEnergy efficiencyEnergy managementFederal facilitiesPerformance measuresRenewable energy sourcesSolar energyStrategic planningWind energyPrivate sectorComplianceProgram goals or objectives