The United States Secretary of the Navy will visit the Marshall Islands this week, the highest-ranking Defense Department official to visit in several years.
Ray Mabus is scheduled to meet the President, Christopher Loeak, in Majuro on Thursday and tour the nation's Sea Patrol surveillance headquarters before departing for Kwajalein where he will stay at the US Army's Reagan Space and Missile Test Site.
The Marshall Islands leaders are expected to raise a funding proposal for the region's first commercial ocean thermal energy conversion plant at Kwajalein Atoll, next to the Army's missile testing range.
The Loeak administration has already sought assurances from the army that it will purchase electricity if the government can build the plant.
The Navy Secretary's website notes that Mr Mabus has set the goal for the Navy and Marine Corps to obtain at least 50 percent of their energy from alternative sources by 2020.
