The Air Force has awarded a $7.3 million contract towards the construction of a one-megawatt solar power plant at Buckley AFB, Colo. The Denver Business Journal reported Tuesday that the US division of London-based AMEC received the contract to design the solar photovoltaic system for the base. According to the newspaper, AMEC intends to complete the project in just over a year. The Buckley initiative is just one of USAF’s solar energy projects. The service is erecting a three-megawatt solar farm at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, is promoting the creation of a solar energy system at Edwards AFB. Calif., and just recently began operation of a new 220-kilowatt solar plant at Hill AFB, Utah.
The Air Force’s nascent KC-Z program, aimed at developing a next-generation family of systems for aerial refueling, will look to launch its analysis-of-alternatives study in 2024, years earlier than originally planned. Originally, the analysis of alternatives for KC-Z was set for “maybe in the 2030s,” Paul Waugh, program executive officer…