Photo By Sgt. Laura Bonano | Staff Sgt. Antony Washington, Cpl. Samuel Stark and Cpl. Cody Cook, with 5th Air Naval...... read more read more
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CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — Marines with the 5th Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company were hesitant to start using the Ground Renewable Expeditionary Energy Network System when they first heard about it.
The name itself is a mouthful, and adding another duty to everyday operations on Camp Tombstone, Helmand province, Afghanistan seemed daunting to Cpl. Cody Cook, a radio technician and operator of the new system.
Staff Sgt. Antony Washington, a communications chief with ANGLICO, said GREENS is a joint venture by the Navy and Marine Corps to find alternate power systems to decrease the dependability on regular power sources such as batteries, generators and natural fossil fuels in remote locations.
“The Marine Corps is going green,” said Washington.
He said the system takes the solar energy that is provided from the sun and will generate up to 1700 watts of pure energy into the controller system. The controller system will then put that energy into lithium batteries.
There was no one in the unit who worked with GREENS before, but Cook said he learned how to use the system simply by studying the technical manual that comes with it, which describes step-by-step how to put it all together.
Cook, a native of Reno, Nev., said radios, computers, printers, lights and even personal laptops can run off of the solar power generated. He said their command-operating center previously used a grid system as the primary power supply, but when it goes down they can rely 100 percent on the solar panel system.
Set up of the system is simple. Cook kneels at a case, lifts the panel up at an angle, places a locking pin into the stand and plugs in a cable to connect it to the controller. The panel arrays are stackable so two panels can fit into one case for portability in vehicles.
The system is then essentially ready to go.
“It was super easy, it probably took about an hour to set up the whole thing,” said Cook. Even maintenance of the system takes very little time. Marines wipe the dust off once a day to keep it clean.
Washington, a native of Buffalo, N.Y., said GREENS is still in a testing phase but is impressed so far. He said initially, they were worried about the capabilities of the system powering equipment, but eventually they even hooked up their air conditioning to it with no problems.
The cost of GREENS may seem high, a whopping $500,000 per system, but Washington feels the benefits outweigh the price tag.
“You’re definitely reducing waste a lot because you have convoys that usually resupply fuel in and out on a daily basis, but this system here, it greatly reduces having to do that, in the long run, I think this will be more cost efficient,” said Washington.
GREENS has been in operation for a month at Camp Tombstone and Cook said prior to getting it, there were nightly power outages. Instead of becoming another task for the Marines to deal with, the solar panel system has proven to be an important asset to Marines on Tombstone, keeping them powered for whatever the fight may bring in Afghanistan.
| Date Taken: | 03.14.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 03.20.2012 03:34 |
| Story ID: | 85478 |
| Location: | HELMAND PROVINCE, AF |
| Hometown: | BUFFALO, NEW YORK, US |
| Hometown: | RENO, NEVADA, US |
| Web Views: | 462 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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