US Navy SCI Complex

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The complex is housed on a ten-acre parcel and includes barracks, a power plant, fire station and a heliport. Instrumentation consists of meteorological data collection, secure VHF/UHF radio communications and data transmission, microwave relay to/from VAFB, Laguna Peak and SNI, and surface surveillance radar coverage of the Sea Range.

One aspect of ship quieting efforts was full-scale trial measurements to pinpoint noise problems. Starting on the West Coast, new ship equipment was tested prior to installation on new construction ships at a test range called Carr Inlet, near Seattle. Around 1970 problems arose at Carr Inlet with ships running aground. Some high speed tests were moved to Santa Cruz Island, California. By 1985, Santa Cruz became too noisy, and the Navy sought a new location for conducting noise measurements on the West Coast. A location was found in Alaska where the water was very quiet. At that location, a new facility called SEAFAC was built and commissioned in 1991.

The Navy’s China Lake Energy Office, California, has installed three unique photovoltaic projects on Santa Cruz Island.
These projects include a photovoltaic array that provides 139 kilowatts to a battery bank capable of holding 2.4 million watt hours. Another project is a water pump, powered by energy from the photovoltaic application, which provides water from 1,500 feet below the surface to the installation. In the initial year of the projects, the Navy saved $400,000 and expects to continue saving.