NEWS

Harnessing Wind Power

February 9, 2012

Engineers and designers from the Defense Intelligence Agency's Engineering and Logistics Services Division are putting the wind to work for them.

In January 2012, DIA engineers installed an approximately nine-foot tall vertical blade wind turbine on top of the parking garage at DIA's headquarters building on Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, D.C.

The turbine, which is rated for 1,000 watts and begins producing electricity at wind speeds of approximately seven mph, is operating new lights over the pedestrian walkway in the DIA parking garage to increase workforce safety. The turbine will also charge a backup battery to power the lights when the wind isn't generating enough electricity to keep them lit.

The purpose of installing this turbine is to test and demonstrate the potential for additional renewable wind energy use at DIA. Larger turbines, up to 5,000 watts, will be evaluated in the future based on the long-term wind speeds and electricity generated by this smaller turbine, as well as the costs for wind turbine generated electricity versus other sources of renewable energy.

The Defense Intelligence Agency currently has an aggressive strategy to increase energy security. A big part of that strategy is to increase renewable energy generation, which includes the installation of solar panels on the roof of headquarters and ground-source pumps to heat and cool DIA buildings.

DIA is the nation’s premier all-source military intelligence organization.

It provides the nation’s most authoritative assessments of foreign military intentions and capabilities. The agency’s four core competencies -- human intelligence, all-source analysis, counterintelligence and technical intelligence -- enable military operations while also informing policy-makers at the defense and national levels.

DIA’s mission is unique and no other agency matches its military expertise across such a broad range of intelligence disciplines.