“Energy at the Air Force Academy is not simply a word anymore,” said Colonel Rick LoCastro. “It’s quickly becoming our motto and our success.”

He said the culture on the Academy campus has shifted over the years and that there is a keen awareness and effort on the parts of faculty, staff, base personnel and cadets to use less and find new energy sources.

He highlighted the Academy’s Falcon Green program.

“Wear your Air Force blue,” he said, “but think green.”

It’s not just a catchy phrase, he said; it’s led to an all-encompassing energy master plan.

Air Force speakers said they were proud to partner with the community on the project.

Bruce McCormick from Colorado Springs Utilities told the group he was ecstatic to be adding this green power to the utility’s grid.

The public utility has set a goal of getting 20 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2020, McCormick said.

“We’re really grateful for this partnership with the Academy,” McCormick said. “When the Air Force Academy came to us last year and said they wanted to be net-zero, our response was, ‘how can we help?’”

The Air Force has been working with Colorado Springs Utilities exclusively to get its power for the last two years, spokesman Romero said.

The project is especially significant to Colorado Springs Utilities, Romero said, because Colorado Springs does not have a reputation in Colorado, a well-known center for renewable energy activity, as a green city.

This one project has suddenly put the city on the map in terms of green energy, Romero said. It’s one of the largest projects in the state, he said.

Colorado Springs Mayor Lionel Rivera also spoke at the event. He said he was proud of the partnership created by this project between the city, the utility, the Air Force Academy, the federal government and a private company.

“That’s the way we like to work in our city,” Rivera said.

The project is on a tight timeline. In order to take advantage of federal tax incentives, the project needs to be half finished by the end of the year, Romero said. That means crews will be working through the winter to install the solar array and that it should be up and running by the spring.

Rivera said he’s leaving office in April and looks forward to seeing the project completed before he goes.

“I believe I get to flip the switch in March, right?” Rivera said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

With that, the dignitaries behind the solar project strapped on hard hats and struck into the ground on the southern edge of the Air Force Academy with silver shovels.

“And we’re just getting started,” LoCastro said.