Ameresco-Duke Energy Team to Modernize Army Building Systems; Nicole Bulgarino Quoted

Ameresco and Duke Energy have secured a $36M contract with the U.S. Army to install new building and power generation systems at Fort Bragg in North Carolina in an effort to increase base energy efficiency.

The team will build a 1.1-megawatt solar photovoltaic array to float on the Big Muddy Lake located at the installation's remote Camp Mackall site for special forces training and a 2-MW battery storage to support a local grid and function as backup power in the event of an outage, Ameresco said Thursday.

The Army plans to use bill savings from the PV installation to pay down third-party financing for the construction project as part of the utility energy service contract.

“With one-tenth of the Army housed at Fort Bragg, including Special Operations, Airborne and Global Response Force forces, it is imperative to provide energy security and improvements to the installation’s utility infrastructure,” said Nicole Bulgarino, executive vice president and general manager for Ameresco's federal solutions business.

Under the UESC, the partnership will also update heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, water conservation and boiler equipment at the military facility.

Ameresco estimates that the branch will save more than $2M in utility costs, reduce site energy consumption by 7 percent and cut water usage by 20 percent during the first year of the agreement.

Construction work is scheduled to commence in November.