Washington, D.C.

The National Park Service's Green Energy Parks Initiative was introduced with the goal of implementing renewable energy projects within the national parks system. This program was intended to meet the energy needs of 380 million annual visitors to the various refuges, wilderness areas, dams, and other park facilities managed by the park service.

The National Parks now rely on more than 700 PV (photovoltaic) systems to convert solar rays into electricity for facility power, lighting, and water pumping. The largest such system is a 160 kW PV array at Dangling Rope Marina in Utah's Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. Electricity from the PV system provides 50 percent of the marina's energy needs.

Other renewable energy systems include a 29.5 kW PV system, and a 21.5 kW wind power system in the Channel Islands off the coast of Southern California, which have been used to bring energy for water pumping, resource monitoring, and communi-cations to this remote area. These systems displace the use of about 36,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year.

Despite funding limitations for these projects, the Department of the Interior has demonstrated that most renewable energy projects are cost-effective and provide a source of clean electric power in the field.