Rota Kicks Off Energy Savings Project

From Naval Facilities Engineering Command Europe Africa Southwest Asia Public Affairs

ROTA, Spain (NNS) -- Naval Station (NS) Rota, Spain is going greener with a $8.3 million energy savings performance contract (ESPC), signed Jan. 20, that will upgrade infrastructure around the installation and benefit the base community.

Economically speaking, the ESPC project will save more than $1 million in utilities annually, paying for itself in less than eight years.

"The ESPC project marks the largest contract of this type awarded throughout Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, and will make considerable strides to achieving energy security, reliability and efficiency," said Dave Deiranieh, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Europe Africa Southwest Asia's utilities and energy program leader.

"It's not just about saving money," said NS Rota Commanding Officer Capt. Bill Mosk. "It's about being good stewards of the environment, as well as making our Navy and nation stronger."

The project supports Department of Defense and secretary of the Navy energy conservation policies by upgrading heating, ventilation and cooling units in twelve buildings. Upgrades will also provide water conservation by replacing water fixtures in 58 buildings and installing a state-of-the-art irrigation system on the golf course and softball fields, reducing water consumption by 35 million gallons per year.

The project will harness the sun to reduce fossil fuel reliance by a solar power system installation that will provide up to 5,000 watts of power per hour of daylight. Also, 35 individual boiler systems will replace the current central boiler, reducing fuel consumption by 45,000 MBTU per year.

The contractor, Ameresco Select Inc., has already begun installing water saving devices and independent boilers, and will begin installing the solar power system soon. Project construction is expected to be complete in August.

NAVFAC EURAFSWA executes more than $650 million a year in construction, professional engineering and facility services for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Department of Defense and NATO commands. For more information, visit www.navfac.navy.mil.