The Department of the Navy (DON), the Commonwealth of Virginia and Dominion Virginia Power (Dominion) celebrated an agreement today to construct a 21 megawatt (MW) direct current (DC) solar energy facility at Naval Air Station (NAS) Oceana.

The facility will supply renewable energy to the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as a 2015 power purchase agreement between the DON and Dominion for 25 MW DC of renewable energy to benefit Naval Station (NS) Norfolk.

The celebration featured remarks from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus; Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia Terry McAuliffe; President and CEO of Dominion Resources Inc. (parent company of Dominion Virginia Power) Thomas F. Farrell II; Commander, U.S. Fleet Forces Command Adm. Phil Davidson; and, Commanding Officer of NAS Oceana Capt. Louis J. Schager Jr.

DON's Renewable Energy Program Office (REPO), established by Mabus in May 2014, surpassed the goal to bring one gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy into procurement by the end of 2015. To put this achievement into perspective, one GW is equivalent to the power used by 250,000 homes or enough to power the city of Orlando, Florida. REPO's successful procurement of this renewable energy greatly enhances the DON's energy resiliency and energy security.

"Not only did we meet the one GW goal ashore five years early, we surpassed it -- reaching 1.1 GW by the end of last year. In doing so we've achieved, $90 million in nominal energy cost savings, $62 million in energy security hardware upgrades to bases, 170 megawatts of access to power during outages and 22 million tons of CO2 abated. And we are just getting started," said Mabus. "Today, the State of Virginia, the Hampton Roads community, Dominion Virginia Power and our Navy and Marine Corps are joining together to add to our success, to protect the future of NS Norfolk and NAS Oceana, and to enhance national security for the American people."

"Today marks a historic day for both the Commonwealth and the Navy," said McAuliffe. "This announcement shows that the Commonwealth is leading by example in driving the clean energy economy forward in Virginia and working to combat climate change. It also highlights the importance my administration places on working with our most important economic partners like the U.S. Department of the Navy."

"Solar is an integral part of Dominion's commitment to renewable energy," said Farrell. "The Oceana solar facility, along with four other large solar facilities we have announced in Virginia, will bring clean energy to the state, new jobs and other economic benefits. Partnerships like the ones highlighted today with the Department of the Navy and the Commonwealth help to make our state a more attractive place to live, work and do business. We are very proud of what we have collectively accomplished today."

The next step for REPO is to explore and implement innovative energy technology advances, such as battery storage, electrification, fuel cells and microgrids, to further leverage these renewable energy assets in order to strengthen the DON's energy security, operational capability, strategic flexibility and resource availability.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.